


Attack on Supernatural

by Lucyndareads



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Supernatural
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 00:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucyndareads/pseuds/Lucyndareads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Continuing the "family business" after their father Grisha's death, Eren and Mikasa Jaeger crisscross the country in their 1967 Chevy Impala, hunting down evil supernatural creatures such as demons, ghosts, and monsters while trying to save innocent people along the way. With a good deal of help from their close friend Armin Arlert, the siblings soon discovered that the "hunt" doesn't just involve slashing and hacking monsters and demons but also dealing with more powerful creatures such as angels, reapers, and even Death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lazarus Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikasa suddenly returns from the grave and seeks answers for her return with Armin's help. Eren, trying to move on, has become hardened and even more reckless with his hunts for demons and other supernatural beings. After being reunited, the Jaeger siblings meet with a psychic friend of Armin's, with whom they try to contact the other side to learn more about what happened to Mikasa. However, they soon realize that they're stumbling onto a supernatural force they've never dreamed they'd encounter.

 

 

 

* * *

 

  

* * *

 

             The first thing Mikasa does after digging herself _out_ of her own grave is simply stare at her surroundings. She's standing in some scrubby field, but there's a clean circle of scorched earth around her gravesite, and the nearest trees have been knocked down. She's never seen anything like it before.

            The second thing Mikasa does is find an abandoned gas station. She finds a water bottle and treasures the liquid tumbling down her throat. How long has it been since she’s drank any water?

            According to a newspaper she nicks from the counter, four months.

            She finds a mirror, wipes off the dust, and inspects herself. She looks the same. She’s wearing the same black t-shirt and jeans she remembers wearing when she was ripped apart by hellhounds. Taking off the shirt, she sees no trace of any scarring. Quite the opposite, in fact, all of her old familiar scars are gone, and her skin is unblemished, but for one gaping exception.

            There’s a _handprint_ burned into her left shoulder. It’s not huge, in fact, it’s about the size of her hand, but it’s clearly going to leave a scar. Okay. That doesn’t answer any questions. 

            Two minutes later the whole gas station goes nuts, radios turning on and off, televisions showing white static, windows breaking, and a high-pitched keen that nearly deafens Mikasa while she’s trying to lay salt down on the windows. As soon as it starts, it stops.

            Wasting no time, she finds a pay phone and dials Eren’s number, not knowing what she could possibly say to him. She doesn’t need to worry about that, however, because his number’s been disconnected.

            She tries Armin next.

            “Hello?” There are no words for how good it feels to hear Armin’s voice. 

            “Armin?”

            “Yes, who may I ask is calling?” 

            “It’s Mikasa.”

            All she gets in reply to that is a dial tone. “Fuck, Armin, come on!” She calls the number again.

            “Who is this?”

            “Armin, listen to me-“

            “This isn’t funny!” Armin sounds like he’s crying. “If you call this number again, I’ll kill you!” Once again, he hangs up.

            “Fuck it.” Mikasa grabs some provisions, hotwires the nearest car, and heads for Maria Falls.

            The next day, someone pounds at Armin’s door. He warily gets up to answer it, but he’s still shaken by the phone call he got yesterday. He knows it was probably a crocetta, but the wound is too raw.

            Opening the door, he gasps as he takes in the sight of Mikasa Jaeger.

            “Hello, Armin,” she says.

            Armin can do nothing but babble, as his eyes start gushing tears. “I- I don’t…”

            “Me neither,” she sighs, walking into his house. “But I’m here, somehow.”

            Armin’s not stupid. He fumbles for the silver knife in his back pocket, and attempts to slash ‘Mikasa’s’ forearm. But of course she manages to immediately put him in a lock, yelling, “Armin! It’s me!”

            “I don’t believe you!” he protests, struggling against her iron grip.

            “Listen! Your name is Armin Arlert. You met me when you were in second grade, and your parents and grandfather got killed by a Titan in Zhiganshima, Ohio. I taught you how to shoot a gun, Armin, you’re... you’re basically my little brother!” Armin stops struggling. She relinquishes her grip, giving him just enough space to try and slash her again. He misses, and Mikasa grabs him once more.

            “Armin, I am not a shapeshifter!" 

            “Then you’re a Revenant!”

            Mikasa shoves him away, and holds up the knife she took from him. “Alright. If I were either, could I do this?” She slashes her forearm. A line of blood appears, but she is otherwise unharmed.

            Could she be… could this actually be happening? “Mikasa?”

            Mikasa smiles. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!”

            Armin walks forward, slowly, and she holds out her arms. They hug tightly.

            “Mikasa…” Armin murmurs, “It’s so good to see you, you have no idea!” He missed her, God, he missed her, and he feels like a missing piece of his heart has been put back into place. “But… how did you bust out?” he asks, as their hug winds to a close. He still has doubt nudging in his brain.

            Mikasa frowns, “I don’t know. I just woke up in a pine box-” Armin splashes her with holy water, which stops her sentence. She spits out the water. “I’m not a demon, either." 

            Armin grins sheepishly, too happy to have Mikasa back to feel ashamed. “Sorry. Can’t be too careful.”

            Mikasa explains to Armin that she has no idea what happened after the hellhounds came after her, and in turn Armin tells her about Eren.

            “He… he’s been distant since you… yeah,” Armin tells her sadly.

            “What do you mean?”

            “He’s been visiting occasionally, or calling… just to get some info about a hunt, usually.”

            “You’re kidding, you’ve been letting him go out by himself?”

            “I couldn’t stop him!" 

            Mikasa sighs. “Armin, you should’ve been looking after him.”

            Armin glares at her. She’s crossed a line. “I _tried_. These last months haven’t been easy for me, either. We had to _bury_ you!”

            That’s been something that bothers her. “Why did you bury me, anyway?”

            “Well, um, I said to Eren that we should have, uh, salted and burned you… I’m sorry-“

            “I would have done the same, don’t worry about it.”

            “Yeah… but Eren wouldn’t let me do it.”

            Mikasa shakes her head, “Well, I guess I’m glad he won that one.” 

            Armin smiles tentatively. “He said you’d need a body when he got you back somehow.” He adds reluctantly, “That’s all he would say to me.”

            Mikasa’s eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”

            “He just kept taking off. Wouldn’t return my calls, and wouldn’t tell me what he kept leaving for,” Armin says sadly.

            Mikasa groans, “Oh, damn it, Eren.” She thinks of the scene that greeted her when she clawed her way out of the dirt

            “What?” asks Armin.

            “Oh, he managed to bring me back. But whatever he did, it was stupid, and probably incredibly dangerous.” Mikasa tells Armin about the gravesite, and the strange presence she felt in the gas station. And the, she shows Armin the handprint on her shoulder.

            He’s shocked. “What the- I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

            Mikasa nods grimly, “I’d be willing to bet a demon pulled me out. Or rode me out, to hold up their end of the bargain.”

            “You… you think Eren made a deal?” Armin says, absolutely horrified. He can’t lose Eren again; he doesn’t think he could bear it. And he was there the whole time, just letting Eren go. He’s failed Eren and Mikasa. Again.

            “It’s what I would have done,” Mikasa says simply, pulling out her phone and dialing a short number, “Hello?” she says in a low, masculine voice, “Yeah, hi, I have a cell phone account with this company, and I lost my phone. I was wondering if you could turn on the GPS for me? Yes. My name is Henry Jones Jr? Social is 2-4-7-4. Thank you.” She flips open Armin’s laptop and starts searching.

            Despite himself, Armin has to try not to laugh. Henry Jones Jr, indeed. Eren is such a geek.

            “Eren’s in Pontiac, Illinois,” Mikasa reports.

            “Right where you were buried…”  

            “Exactly. Do you think it’s just a coincidence?” Mikasa asks dryly.

 

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

 

            They find Eren’s shitty motel room, but the person who opens the door is definitely not Eren. She’s petite, but muscular, with blonde hair in a high ponytail, blue eyes, and a distinctly Russian nose. She’s also in only a tank top and underwear.           

            “Well?” she says to them impatiently.

            “Well what?” Mikasa says, confused.

            “Where’s the pizza that it apparently took two people to deliver?”

            “Umm… I think we have the wrong room?” Armin says.

            But then Eren steps into Mikasa’s vision, and nothing and no one else matters anymore. He looks bad, dark circles under his eyes and a grim expression set on his face, but he’s beautiful to Mikasa. He begins to say, “Hey, what’s…” but he trails off as he sees her. 

            “Hello, Eren,” Mikasa says calmly.

            Eren says nothing. Mikasa walks to him, as the blonde moves out of her way in surprise. As she reaches Eren, Eren pulls out a knife and lunges at Mikasa. Amidst the blonde’s screams, Mikasa blocks the attack and Armin runs forward to try and help restrain Eren.

            “WHO ARE YOU?” Eren demands, his face bright red with rage, his eyes filling with tears. 

            Mikasa rolls her eyes. “Like you didn’t do this?”

            “Do _what_?” he replies, still struggling to stab her.

            “Eren!” Armin yells, grabbing one of Eren’s arms and putting his other hand on Eren;s shoulder, “It’s her! It’s her. I checked already, it’s really _her._ ”

            Eren stops resisting. “What?” he asks, while staring at Mikasa hungrily.

            Mikasa advances towards him slowly. “Nice to see you too, Eren." 

            Eren bursts into tears as he closes the gap between them and hugs Mikasa desperately. He thought… he was so sure that she was gone forever. She’s so real and firm and _here_ , smelling the same as he remembers.

            Armin joins them, and they pull him in, holding the hug for a while.

            “So, are… are you three, like… together?” the blonde woman asks. They separate, all three of them having forgotten she was there.

            “What?” says Eren, “No. No. You- I mean, she’s my sister. He’s my best friend.”

            The blonde woman raises her eyebrows. “Uh… got it, I guess. Look, I should probably go…”

            Eren nods awkwardly, still wiping away tears. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Sorry.”

            The woman dresses quickly and heads for the door. As she exits the room, she pauses, and turns. “So, call me?” she says, her voice tinged with uncertainty.

            Eren smiles weakly. “Yeah! Yeah, sure thing, Roxie.” 

            The woman looks hurt. “It’s Ruby.” 

            “…Right…” Eren says sheepishly. She leaves quickly after that.

            Walking back into the room, Eren is confronted by a very suspicious looking Mikasa and Armin.

            “So tell me,” Mikasa says flatly, “What did it cost?”

            Eren can’t help but smile. He missed that tone of voice. “The girl? I don’t pay, Mikasa.” 

            Mikasa frowns. “That’s disgusting, Eren. Stop kidding around. How much did it cost to bring me back? Was it your soul, or something worse?”

            Now Eren is frowning. “You think I made a demon deal?”

            “Well,” hedges Armin, “You kept telling me you were trying everything…”

            “Well, I didn’t,” Eren says.

            Mikasa sighs. “Don’t lie to me.”

            “I’m not lying!” Eren insists. “I tried everything I could to save you, ‘Kasa! The Devil’s Gate, bargaining, but no demon would deal! You were in Hell for months, and I couldn’t do anything to save you. So I’m sorry it wasn’t me, all right? Mikasa, I’m so sorry.” He looks wretchedly at her, and there’s no doubt in her mind that Eren’s telling the truth. 

             “It’s ok, Eren. You don’t have to apologise, I believe you.” They share a fond look. 

            Armin coughs awkwardly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad you didn’t do anything stupid, Eren, but this presents a pretty big problem…”

            Mikasa nods. “If he didn’t pull me out-“

            “-then what did?” Eren finishes for her. The trio exchanges an apprehensive look.

            Eren gets two beers out (it’s a bad idea for Armin to drink) and they all sit down to talk about it. Eren and Armin sit on either side of Mikasa; Armin resting his head on her shoulder while Eren puts his head in her lap. “So what exactly were you doing here, if you weren’t digging me out of my grave?” asks Mikasa, absentmindedly running her fingers through Eren’s shaggy hair for the first time in what feels like an eternity.

            Eren sighs, “Well, once I figured out I couldn’t save you, I started hunting down Lilith, trying to get some payback.”

            Armin frowns, “All by yourself? Eren, that’s insanely dumb, even for you! Why didn’t you _tell_ me?” Spotting something bright blue, Mikasa moves aside Eren’s jacket, strewn on the coffee table.

            “Um, yeah, I’m sorry, Armin,” Eren says, avoiding Armin’s big blue eyes, “I should have talked more. I was pretty messed up." 

            “Oh, sure,” Mikasa says drily, holding up what was under his jacket: a lacy turquoise-colored bra. “You seem like you were in agony.”

            Eren’s ears turn red. “Anyways! Uh, I was chasing these demons out of Tennessee, and out of nowhere they changed direction and ended up here.”

            “When?” Mikasa asks. 

            “Yesterday morning.”

            “When I busted out,” Mikasa says meaningfully, looking at Armin.

            Armin frowns. “You think those demons are here because of you?” 

            “But why?” asks Eren.

            Mikasa shrugs, “Well, I don’t know… some big bad demon drags me out, and now this? It has to be connected somehow.” 

            “Umm… ‘Kasa?” Armin tentatively asks. “How are you feeling, by the way?”

            “I’m a little hungry.”

            “No, I mean, um-“ he takes a deep breath, “Do you feel like yourself? Anything strange, or different?”

            “Or demonic?” snaps Mikasa, “Armin, how many times do I have to prove I’m me?”

            “No, no, it’s just… no demon would get you out of hell just to do a good deed… they’ve got to have something really awful planned,” he explains.

            Mikasa shrugs helplessly. “Well, I feel fine." 

            Armin sighs. “Guys, we have no idea what’s going on. We need help.”

            “Do you have any contacts who could be useful?” Eren asks. 

            Armin nods slowly. “I know a psychic. She’s only a few hours from here. This whole situation seems really big, she’s probably heard something from the other side.”

            “Hell yeah. It’s worth a shot!” Eren says.

            “I’ll go call her then,” Armin says, getting up and leaving the room. Mikasa is about to follow him, but Eren grabs her wrist gently.

            “Hey, wait. You probably want this back.” He rummages around in one of his duffel bags. After a moment, he pulls out the red scarf, _the_ red scarf, and wraps it around her, sweetly and clumsily. For a moment, they’re four again, sitting outside their burning house.

            “…Thank you,” Mikasa says. She doesn’t add ‘I love you’, but she hopes he knows she means it.

            Eren beams at her. “You’re welcome,” he says softly. There’s a pause. Mikasa can tell that Eren is trying to bring up the nerve to ask her something, and she waits patiently. “Hey, ‘Kasa, what was… _it_ like?”

            It seems to Eren that Mikasa freezes for a moment, but she replies, “What, Hell? I don’t know. I must have blacked it out. I don’t remember a thing.”

            Eren nods slowly, “Well, thank God for that.”

            “Yes,” Mikasa says. 

            Later that night, she stares at herself in the bathroom mirror, leaning in until her nose almost presses the glass. For a second, her face is bloody and terrified, she’s screaming, something else is screaming, and there’s fire, fire everywhere, and _pain_ …

            She pulls back, startled, but her face is once again unblemished, and she’s standing alone in the bathroom of a shitty motel.

 

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

 

            It’s the middle of the night on November 3rd, 1983. Eren and Mikasa are four years old. It’s been three and a half years since Mikasa was adopted into the Jaeger family. 

            Grisha Jaeger wakes to his wife Carla’s screams. He bolts from the living room chair that he was so recently asleep in and follows the noise to Eren’s bedroom. All he sees when he enters the room is a very confused and alarmed Eren, tossing around in his bed. There’s not a sign of Carla, or anyone else, in the room, and he can see nothing that would cause someone to scream.

            “Daddy?” Eren murmurs.

            Grisha goes to comfort his son, when he sees a drop of crimson on Eren’s cheek. Looking up, Carla is on the ceiling, her brown hair a mess, her stomach leaking blood. It doesn’t make any sense, and it’s horrifying. Before Grisha can even cry out her name, she bursts into flames. This must be a nightmare, he thinks, but he’s not waking up, and the next thing he knows, Mikasa runs in, groggy and worried. Grisha scoops up Eren and places him next to Mikasa. “Grab your brother and get him outside the house, _now_!” he yells. Mikasa’s eyes widen as she sees Carla in the flames, but she nods and grabs Eren by the hand, pulling him out of the house. As she passes the closet, Eren wrenches himself from her grip.

            “Eren!” she cries, but he comes back to her quickly, and she gets him outside of the house with no further complications.

            Meanwhile, Grisha tries to reach Carla, but he quickly realises it’s a lost cause. Making his way out of the house just in time, he’s forced to talk to neighbors and firefighters and police. He lies through his tears: “There was a fire in my son’s bedroom and my wife was caught in it.” He knows whatever he just saw won’t go over well with the authorities. He’s going to have to face whoever killed his wife on his own. 

            “Eren!” Mikasa yells, shaking her brother. Tears are running down her cheeks. “Why did you do that? I can’t lose you! I can’t lose you like I just lost mom!” 

            He’s crying too, but he lifts up his hand to shows her what he grabbed: Carla’s red scarf. “I had to save something, Mikasa,” he sobs, “I had to.”

            A wave of grief rolls over her, and she closes her eyes, her body shivering and wracking with sobs. Suddenly, she feels something warm around her neck. She opens her eyes, just to find them obscured by red. Eren has wrapped the scarf haphazardly around her. “I want you to keep it,” he insists. “You and me, Mikasa. We got to stick together now. We’ll remember her together." 

            She hasn’t taken the scarf off since. In the warmer weather she wraps it around her waist or wrist, and no one but Eren and Armin is allowed to touch it. It doesn’t smell like Carla anymore, but she swears it still smells like Eren. 

 

 *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

 

            The three of them hit the road to see the psychic soon after. While Armin gets in his navy blue Prius, Eren turns to Mikasa with a smile on his face. “I assume you want to drive,” he says, tossing her the keys to the Impala.

            Mikasa laughs, “I almost forgot!” She approaches the Impala and runs a hand over it fondly. “Hey, did you miss me?” Mikasa knows very little about classic cars, but she loves her own. She and Eren keep it running smoothly, but Mikasa always drives. Always.

            Eren doesn’t mind though, because he gets to pick the music. Eren’s a music nut, he likes basically every genre, and Mikasa couldn’t care less. She hums tunelessly along to ACDC, the Beatles, Kanye, Paul Simon, Britney, Fall Out Boy, Bastille, Bach, and Imagine Dragons. It was Eren who came up with the idea to put an iPod doc in the Impala, and it was Mikasa and Armin who bought him that iPod for his most recent birthday, because they both are in love with Eren’s raspy, passionate, melodious singing voice. Eren never liked school, but he loved music. When they use to talk about the careers they would have if they didn’t need to hunt, Eren always talked about being a musician. To this day he still plays the guitar pretty well, too. 

            Riding in the Impala on a dark road, side-by-side, hearing Eren’s voice again, it’s almost like Mikasa never left. But she just can’t seem to let herself be happy.     

            “Hey,” she says softly, “There’s still one thing that’s bothering me.”

            “ _Do you understand that we will never be the same again? The future’s in our hands and we will never be the same again-_ Yeah?” he asks, breaking off from his rendition of Bastille, but still tapping the song’s rhythm on the passenger door. 

            “Yeah. The night that I… well. How did you make it out? I thought Lilith was going to kill you. I thought you were…” she trails off. 

            Eren shrugs. “Well, she tried. She couldn’t.” 

            “What do you mean, she couldn’t?” 

            “She fired this, like, burning light at me,” Eren says, holding out his hand to demonstrate, “And she didn’t leave a scratch. Like I was immune, or something.”

            Mikasa raises her eyebrows. “Immune?”

            “Yeah. I don’t know who was more surprised about it, her or me. She left pretty quick after that. Guess I scared her off.” He grins wolfishly at her. 

            “Huh,” Mikasa says, mulling it over. “What about Annie, where is she?”

            Eren shrugs again. “Dead. For now.”

            “So…” Mikasa says tentatively, “You’ve been using your ESP powers?” 

            “No.”

            “No? I was wondering, because of the immunity…. what else you might have going on.”

            “Mikasa, you didn’t want me to do it, so I didn’t do it, I mean, it was practically your dying wish, right?” 

            Mikasa lets out a relieved breath. “Yeah, well, let’s keep it that way,” she says with her eyes on the road.

            In the passenger’s seat, Eren slouches over, staring at the window with a brooding expression on his face. He doesn’t start singing again. His big blue-green eyes, reflected on the window, stare back at him accusingly, making it impossible for him to relax. 

            When they make it to the psychic’s house, she is nothing like either of them were expecting. Greeting them is a bubbly Scottish brunette around their age, holding a baked potato and smiling broadly. The first thing she does is hug Armin so thoroughly that his feet leave the ground.  “Armin, good to see yeh! So, ‘r these yer friends??” 

            Armin clears his throat, “Mikasa, Eren. This is Sasha Braus, the best psychic in the state.” 

            Mikasa nods at her. Eren smiles awkwardly and says, “Hey.” 

            Sasha studies Mikasa leisurely. “Mmmm. Mikasa Ackerman. Oot of the fire ‘n back ‘n the fryin’ pan, eh? Makes you a rare individual.” 

            “If you say so,” Mikasa says flatly. She’s a little uncomfortable with the way this Braus woman is staring at her. 

            “Please, come on in! Sorry, I was in the middle of eatin’! Want half?” she asks, gesturing to the potato as she follows them into the house.

            “So, have you heard anything?” Armin asks.

            Sasha shrugs, “Well, I Ouija’d my way through a dozen ghosties. No one seems to know who broke her out, or why.”

            “So what can you _do_ , then?” Eren bluntly says. Mikasa side-eyes him, but Sasha looks unoffended.

            “A séance, I think! See if we can figure out who did the deed.”

            Armin pales. “You’re not going to… summon whatever did it here?”

            “Nah,” Sasha assures him, slapping him on the back so hard he nearly falls over, “I just want to get a peek at the wee devil. Like a crystal ball without the crystal!” 

            “I’m fine with it,” Mikasa says nonchalantly. 

            They sit around a small table with a black velvet covering and six lighted candles in the center. “Right,” Sasha says, her demeanor suddenly businesslike, “Take each other’s hands. And I need to touch something our mysterious beastie touched.”

            Mikasa feels a hand slide up her inner thigh, which she promptly slaps hard. “It did _not_ touch me there,” she says, shooting a glare at Sasha, who grins, unconcerned. 

            “My mistake!” 

            Mikasa takes off her jacket and rolls up her sleeve. Eren stares at the brand, shocked. He looks at Armin, who looks back at him grimly. Sasha places her hand on the brand and begins: “Okay. I invoke, conjure, and command you, appear unto me before this circle. I invoke, conjure, and command you, appear unto me before this circle. I invoke, conjure, and command you, appear unto me before this circle.” The television behind her flicks on to static. “I invoke, conjure, and command you… Leviel? No. Sorry, Leviel, I ain’t scarin’ that easily, am I?”

            Mikasa opens her eyes. “Leviel?” 

            “Its name,” explains Sasha, “It’s whisperin’ to me, warnin’ me to turn back. But fuck that, right? I conjure and command you, show me your face. I conjure and command you, show me your face. I conjure and command you, show me your face. I conjure and command you, show me your face-“ as she continues to chant, a white noise builds, and the table starts shaking, becoming more and more violent. 

            Armin’s eyes fly open. “M-maybe we should stop?” he suggests, his voice cracking, but Sasha shakes her head roughly.

            “I almost got ‘em. I command you, show me your face! Show me your face now!” Suddenly, the candles flare up violently, and Sasha starts to scream. Eren watches in helpless horror as her eyes fly open, and he sees them filled with flames. She collapses, and as quick as the rattling and white noise began, they cease. It’s calm again.

            Mikasa catches Sasha as she slumps and gently lowers her to the floor. “Call 9-1-1!” she barks. Armin is frozen to his seat, shaking, but Eren scrambles out of his chair and runs to the phone in the next room. Mikasa inspects Sasha. She’s conscious, but bleeding and burned. She opens her eyelids, but there’s nothing there except for black, empty sockets. Armin gasps, and Sasha sobs.

            “I can’t see! I can’t see! Oh, God!”

 

 

 

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

           

            The morning after leaving Sasha’s, Mikasa and Eren sit in a local diner. Armin, outside on a phone call, soon joins them.

            “What’d she say?” Eren asks.

            “She’s- um- she’s stable,” Armin reports, “And out of I.C.U.”

            “And blind, because of us,” says Eren darkly. 

            “Well, she actually sounds, uh… pretty fine with it?” Armin says. “She just told me that she thinks her sense of taste has improved twofold, so food tastes even better now. Go figure.”

            That girl is either the bravest or stupidest psychic out there, Mikasa thinks. “Either way,” she says darkly, “We still have no clue what we’re dealing with.”

            Eren shrugs, “Well, we did get a name. Leviel, or whatever. With the right spell, we could summon him, bring him right to us!”

            Armin says, “You’re crazy!” at the same time as Mikasa says “Absolutely not.”

            “C’mon, guys, we’ll work him over! I mean, after what he did?”

            “Eren,” says Armin, in his best ‘be logical’ voice, “Sasha tried to _look_ at him and her eyes _burned out of her skull_ , and you want to confront him?”

            “You got a better idea?” challenges Eren.           

            “What about those demons you followed to town, Eren?” Mikasa asks. “We should find them. Someone has to know something about _something_.” As she’s finishing that sentence, their waitress comes to their table with three plates of pie and sets them on the table.

            “Thank you,” Armin says distractedly.

            “You are _quite_ welcome,” the waitress says, but she doesn’t leave. Instead, she makes herself comfortable in the chair at the end of the table.

            “Umm… can we help you with something?” Eren asks.

            “I’m sorry,” she replies with a smirk, “Thought you were looking for us?” Her eyes turn demon-black, and Armin jumps in his seat while Mikasa reaches for her knife. But she sees two more patrons glance at her with jet-black stares, and one of them locks the diner’s door. Shit. She can’t start attacking until she knows Eren and Armin are safe, so she might as well find out what this bitch wants. She’s pulled out of her calculating when the waitress says her name. “…to hell and back. Aren’t you a lucky duck?”

            “That’s me,” Mikasa replies through her teeth. 

            “So you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh? Tell me. What makes you so special?”

            Wait a minute… is she as clueless as the rest of them? 

            “I like to think it’s because of my great ass,” Mikasa quips. “I don’t know. I didn’t do it, and I don’t know who did.” 

            The demon waitress chuckles, darting a look at her demonic companions. “Right. Of course you don’t. Lying’s a sin, you know.”

            “I’m not lying,” Mikasa insists, “But I’d like to find out, so if you wouldn’t mind enlightening me, _Flo_ …" 

            The demon’s eyes narrow. “Mind your tone with me, bitch, I’ll drag you back to hell myself.” 

            “Just try it!” Eren snaps, leaning forward to attack. But Mikasa holds out a hand, and Eren immediately calms himself, sitting back in his seat. He puts his arm back around Armin’s trembling shoulders, where it’s been since the waitress revealed herself to be a demon.

            “No, actually, I don’t think you will,” says Mikasa to the demon. 

            “Oh no?” replies the waitress lazily. 

            “No. Because if you were, you would have done it already. You have no idea who raised me from hell, you’re just as spooked as we are, and you’re looking for answers. Well, maybe it was some titanic spirit. Or a higher-up demon. Or Godzilla. I’m guessing that they don’t tell demons of your pathetic rank anything. Because whoever it was, they want me on earth. And they’re a lot stronger than you cowards are. So go ahead,” Mikasa says, throwing her arms out cockily, “Send me back. But don’t come crawling to me when they track you down and rinse your mouth out with holy water.” 

            “I’m going to reach down your throat and rip out your lungs,” growls the demon, but Mikasa leans forward and, without deliberation, slaps her in the face. The demon does nothing. Mikasa slaps her again, and still no response. The demon darts another look at her cohorts and runs a hand through her hair.

            “That’s what I thought,” Mikasa says satisfactorily, “Let’s go, guys.” She stands, and Eren follows her, pulling a frozen Armin up with him. They make their way towards the door, but Eren stops for a second, digs a ten-dollar bill out of his jacket pocket, and makes his way back to their table.

            He slaps the bill on the table, saying, “For the pie,” with a smirk on his face. Then he walks quickly back to Armin and they leave the diner quickly, only relaxing when they’re five minutes away.

            Armin leans against the nearest building and pants, “Oh… oh my God. That was close.” 

            “We’re not just going to leave them in there, are we, Mikasa?” Eren asks.

            Mikasa shrugs, “There’s three of them, probably more, and we’ve only got one knife between us.”

            “I’ve…” Eren says, then pauses for a second before continuing, “I’ve been killing a lot more demons than that lately.”

            Mikasa glares at him, “Not anymore. Not while I’m around.”

            “Thank you!” Armin murmurs.

            “Shut up, Armin,” Eren snaps, “Mikasa, we’ve got to take ‘em. They’re _dangerous._ They’re hurting people!”

            “They’re _scared_ , Eren. Scared of whatever had the power to drag me out. We’re dealing with a colossal threat, so let’s focus on one job at a time,” Mikasa orders. 

            Eren sighs in frustration, and when Mikasa and Armin start walking, he lags behind, pulls out his phone, and sends a short text:

**E: up for bug squashing tonight**

**A: Of course. Time and place?**

**E: brb wait till kasa isnt here**

Eren closes the phone and hurries to catch up with his friends. 

            He sneaks out at night, as Mikasa and Armin nap on the couch, her arm around him and his head once again on her shoulder. With a knot in his stomach, Eren heads toward the diner in the Impala. 

            He sneaks in, in the pitch dark, and immediately stumbles over the fallen body of the cook. Leaning down to inspect, Eren sees the man’s eyes have been burned out, with dried blood congealing on his cheeks. 

            Standing up, Eren is suddenly tackled from behind. He incapacitates the attacker fairly quickly, and as he shoves them away he sees before him the demon waitress, also with hollow eye sockets and blood dripping down her face. She looks both terrifying _and_ terrified. 

            “The fuck happened to you?” Eren says.

            “I can still smell your soul from a mile away,” she hisses.

            Eren rolls his eyes, “Not the point. It was here, and you saw it.”

            She suddenly begins to sob. “I- I saw it.” 

            “What was it?”

            “It’s the end,” she moans, “We’re dead. We’re all dead." He's never seen a demon this agitated before. 

            “But _what did you see_?” insists Eren.

            “Go to hell,” she spits.

            Eren smirks. “Funny. I was going to say the same thing to you.” He takes a deep breath, plants his feet, shuts his eyes, and extends his right hand towards the wounded demon. All he can hear is a choking, gagging noise, but he knows what’s happening: the waitress is heaving up black smoke, which gets sucked into the pit as the waitress collapses on the floor. He opens his eyes, and pumps a fist in the air, then quickly kneels to check her pulse. 

            His victory is soured when he can’t find one. She’s dead. “God _damn_ it!” he grunts.

            The kitchen door opens, and out steps Annie. She’s still wearing the same outfit from the hotel (for of course, it was she who asked Mikasa and Armin about the pizza. Annie’s a wonderful actress). Eren watches her walk towards him. “You’re getting good, Eren,” she praises, “Better all the time.”

            Eren beams at her, but his face falls as he looks down at the corpse. “What the hell is going on here, Annie?”

             “I wish I knew,” she replies.

            “We were thinking some powerful demon pulled Mikasa out.” 

            Annie shakes her head. “No way. Eren, it’s not that easy for a human soul to escape hell. When it happens, the sky bleeds, the ground quakes. It’s a war. No demon can accomplish that. Not Lilith, not anybody.”

            “Then what can?” Eren demands.

            “Nothing I’ve ever seen before,” Annie says simply.

 

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

           

            As Mikasa and Armin are sleeping, it happens again. The static leaks from the television and radio, which immediately wakes them both up. Mikasa grabs a shotgun, and Armin tries in vain to find salt, but the high-pitched whine starts up again and they both have to drop everything and cover their ears.

            It ends quickly, and Mikasa looks up to see Armin’s frightened face. “Wha- what was that?” he stammers.

            “It’s been following me ever since I came back,” Mikasa explains as she helps him up, “And I’m getting pretty fucking sick of it. I’m thinking Eren’s right.”

            “You are?” Armin says, nonplussed, “Wait, right about what?”

            “We should do it. Try and summon this thing. I’m sick of groping around in the dark. It’s time we faced it head-on.”

            “You can’t be serious!” Though he loves Mikasa and Eren more than anything, Armin can’t help but wish he were back in his house, drinking Diet Coke with lemon and reading a nice nonfiction book. “Mikasa, we don’t know what it is! It could be a demon, it could be anything!”

            “That’s why we’ve got to be ready for anything,” Mikasa calmly replies. She pulls out Annie’s knife. “We’ve got the bitch’s magic knife, an arsenal in the Impala…”

            “This is a _very_ bad idea,” Armin insists.

            “Yeah, I couldn’t agree more, but what other choice do we have?” 

            “Oh, gee, I don’t know, we could choose _life_?” shrieks Armin, his hair falling out of his ponytail in messy strands. 

            Mikasa sighs, “Armin, whatever this is, whatever it wants, it’s after me. We know that much. I have no place to hide. And it could hurt you or Eren in the process of looking for me. So we could either get cornered, or we can make our stand. I’m calling Eren, if you want him to break the tie…?” she adds, grinning slightly. 

            “Oh yeah, gee, I wonder if Eren will want to fight something or not. Fuck you, Mikasa. I’ll be waiting in the car,” Armin groans, stalking his way back to his Prius.

            As Eren drives away from the diner, he gets a call from Mikasa. “Hey,” he greets, tucking the phone between his shoulder and ear.

            “What are you doing?” Mikasa asks. 

            “Couldn’t sleep, went to get a burger,” Eren replies smoothly. “What are you doing up?”

            “We’re going to do it. Going to summon this thing. You in?”

            Eren smiles predatorily. “Of course. Where’s it gonna be?”

            “The warehouse we passed on the way into town.” 

            “Sounds fun. See ya there,” says Eren. 

            “’Kay. Drive safe.”

            “Will do.” He flips off the phone and tosses it into the backseat. He sighs. Meeting up with Annie is going to be a lot more difficult now that Mikasa’s back. Not that he’s not overwhelmingly glad that she’s back, because _oh my god of course he is_. There must be some way to convince her that he’s doing the right thing with Annie. But that can wait. First he wants to meet whatever gave his sister that brand on her shoulder, and give it a piece of his mind.

            By the time Eren reaches the warehouse, Mikasa and Armin have already gotten busy. The floor, walls, and ceiling are being spray painted with white sigils.

            Eren dumps the contents of the Impala out on the table. “That’s awesome! What are they?”

            Armin looks up from puzzling over a sigil, his eyes a bit bleary, and Eren tracks Armin’s hand as it reaches up to tuck a loose strand of blonde hair behind his ear. “Traps and talismans from every faith on earth.”

            “Let’s see what we’ve got here,” Mikasa says, sorting out the weapons, “Stakes, iron, silver, salt, the knife… this should be enough.”

            “I mean, we’re pretty much set to catch and kill anything I’ve ever heard of,” Eren says. 

            Armin shakes his head, “This is _still_ a bad idea.”

            “Yes, Armin, I heard you the first ten times,” Mikasa says. 

            “So, if we’re ready, shall we get started?” asks Eren eagerly.

            They both look at Armin, who sighs and nods. “Ok, but I’m going to tell you both ‘I told you’ so in advance, because when it’ll come time to say it, we’ll all be _dead_.” He walks over to the other desk in the room, where a bowl sits in the center of a painted symbol. With slightly trembling hands, he pours the ingredients needed into the bowl, which begins to smoke as he chants in Latin. After a minute or two, he stops, wipes his brow, and steps back. “Alright,” he huffs, “Get ready.”     Mikasa sheaths the knife, and in unison the trio cocks their guns. 

            Five minutes later, Eren glances over at Armin. “You sure you did the ritual right?” Armin glares at him, and he holds up a hand. “Sorry!”

            Not a minute later, the roof begins to shake, and they hear rattling and a series of thumps on the roof. “This is it,” hisses Mikasa.

            Suddenly the doors fly open, and a man enters the warehouse. He’s short, but built, with dark hair and a fine-featured face. His blue-grey eyes have huge dark bags under them, but they are icy and piercing. His expression, Mikasa thinks, is the dictionary definition of ‘disdain’. Armin notes that his clothes (a suit and cravat) are nicer, pricier, and more well kept than any demon he’s ever seen. Eren thinks he’s pretty hot, and then feels kind of ashamed about thinking that.

            “Who are you?” Mikasa demands.

            “I’m the one who got your shitty self out of perdition, obviously,” says the creature.

            “Thanks for that,” Mikasa replies, plunging Annie’s knife into the creature’s chest.

            She knows that they’re in deep shit when the creature smirks and tugs out the knife, revealing only a slight rip in his cravat (A cravat? _Really?_ ). Armin and Eren look on in astonishment and fear.

 

            “I could almost feel sorry for you stupid mud monkeys,” the creature drawls. His voice is rigid ice. “As it is, I feel disgust more than anything else. Especially since that knife probably has gotten all sorts of demonic filth on me. And that’s not going to work, brat,” he says to Eren, who has stepped forward, hand outstretched, “I’m no shitty demon.”

            Mikasa can sense Armin panicking, and Eren building up the nerve to try something else as stupid as- what exactly was he about to do, slap the thing? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. She has to protect them. She _needs_ to protect him. Eren. Ever since Grisha told her to get him outside the house, Eren has been Mikasa’s charge. And if this new threat, this unknown son of a bitch thinks he can force Mikasa to break that pattern? Well then, he’s made a grave mistake. She went through Hell, _literally Hell,_ for Eren, and nothing can top that.

            “Who are you?” she demands through gritted teeth.

            “Leviel.”

            “Don’t you think we fucking know that?” rages Eren, “You-“

            “Sh- she meant _what_ are you.” Armin stutters. ‘Leviel’ whips his head in Armin’s direction. Armin squeaks and ducks his head.

            “I’m an angel of the lord.”

            There’s an awkward silence, broken by Eren’s stammering and Armin’s gasp.

            “You don’t speak like an angel…” mutters Armin.

            Then Mikasa speaks, “We’re not stupid. There’s no such thing.”

            Leviel chuckles humorlessly. “That’s your problem, Jaeger. You have no faith.” He stands impossibly straighter, rolling his shoulders back. Lightening crackles, and the building shakes yet again, destroying the few lights left unscathed from Leviel’s dramatic entrance. The three hunters are struck dumb, as wings, beautiful and incandescent, appear from Leviel’s back. Unexpectedly, the wings are two different colours: the left one is pure, snowy white, like stereotypical angel wings, while the right one is a dark blue.

 

            This time, the silence is one of awe, until Mikasa finally regains her tongue. “Pretty display. But like I said, we’re not stupid. Who are you, and what do you want?”

            “Are you deaf, brat? I just told you.”

            “I don’t think an angel would _burn out an innocent woman’s eyes_ ,” snaps Eren.

            Leviel sighs, not making eye contact with him, which pisses Eren off. Really? Is he not even worth this jerk’s attention? “I warned that idiot not to spy on my true form. It can be overwhelming to humans, like my real voice. But you already know that, don’t you, Mikasa?”

            Mikasa’s eyes widen, “You mean the gas station and the motel. That was you _talking_?” He nods. “Buddy, next time? Lower the volume.”

            “That was my mistake,” he replies, “Certain people, _special_ people, can perceive my true visage. I thought you’d be one of them. Turns out you’re just as mundane as the majority of your kind.”

            “So, um, what ‘visage’ are you in now, sir?” asks Armin.

            “This? This is a vessel.”

            “Wait a minute,” Eren says furiously, “You’re _possessing_ someone? Like a demon would? 

            “He’s a devout man,” drones Leviel, “The stupid fucker actually prayed for this.”

            “Right,” Mikasa says sarcastically, “And why would an angel save me from Hell?”

            “Sometimes good things happen to morons,” Leviel says. 

            Mikasa barks a laugh. “Not in my experience.”

            Leviel frowns, and tilts his head to the side. The motion is so inhuman that it sends a shiver down her spine. “You don’t think you deserve to be saved. Is your opinion of yourself that shitty?" 

            “Why’d you do it?”

            Leviel’s uncaring attitude is replaced by a fierce intensity as he stares Mikasa down. “Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you. All of you.” By this time, Eren and Armin have made their way to Mikasa, and each of them takes one of Mikasa’s hands. Their expressions probably mirror Mikasa’s as the three of them stare at the stiff figure in shock. All of them have the feeling that their world has just drastically changed, and the change is not necessarily for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, so this is exactly what it looks like: the characters of SNK in Supernatural! I'm planning on having this go from the beginning of season 4 to the end of season 5, unless I get requests for more. Hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!
> 
> You can also find me at erenjaegrrr.tumblr.com *shameless self promotion*
> 
> All artwork and beta-ing is done by the incredibly talented Gwen, who you can find at armlnarlert.tumblr.com, and whose art can be found at thiscatdraws.tumblr.com.
> 
> The song Eren sings in the car is "Things We Lost In The Fire" by Bastille (An SPN song if there ever was one)
> 
> I OWN NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS, NOR DO I OWN THE PLOT.


	2. Are You There God? It's Me, Mikasa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Mikasa, Eren and Armin worry about 20 hunters killed or missing in the area, they themselves are each attacked by angry spirits who blame them for getting killed during demon-eliminations. They soon discover that they're in the middle of something far, far bigger than a simple hunt. And Leviel visits Mikasa again, bringing her more bad news, and really pissing her off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, I'm sure you guys have noticed the weird overkill of ship tags I've used. The two endgame ships of this fic are Eren/Armin and Levi/Mikasa. However, I'm a furious multishipper when it comes to SNK, so all of these characters are probably going to end up flirting at some point. Oops :)
> 
> In this chapter we also get to see how Armin joined the gang! Poor guy had a rough time.

            “Well, I’m sure you brats have hundreds of questions, but I don’t have time for this shit right now. I’ll be in touch later.” And before any of them can argue, Leviel’s gone in the blink of an eye, leaving them incredibly confused in the warehouse.

            They all make tracks for Armin’s house. Armin himself immediately plunks himself down at his desk, surrounded by piles of books, with a panicked expression on his face and a hand constantly tugging at his hair. Eren is sprawled in an armchair. Mikasa refuses to sit. 

            “Well, then tell me what else it could be!” squeaks Armin, as he looks through an ancient book bigger than his head.

            “Look, all I know is that I was absolutely not groped by an angel,” Mikasa insists.

            “Mikasa, come on,” Eren insists, “Why do you think Leviel would lie to you about it?” 

            “Why do you think ‘Leviel’ would tell the truth?” Mikasa shoots back. “Maybe he’s some kind of demon. Demons lie.” 

            “A demon who’s immune to salt rounds and devil’s traps and Annie’s knife?” asks Armin.

            “Mikasa, even Lilith is scared of him!” Eren chimes in.

            Mikasa cannot believe they’re being so altruistic. “Don’t you think that if angels were real, that some hunter somewhere would have seen one… at some point… ever?”

            “Uh, yeah, we just did!” shoots back Eren. 

            She sighs, “I’m trying to come up with a theory here. Work with me, _please_.” 

            “’Kasa, we _have_ a theory.”

            “Yeah, sure, but can you please give me one that’s a little less fucking ridiculous?” 

            “Okay, look,” Eren says, holding up his hands, “I’m not saying we know for sure. I’m just saying that Leviel-“ 

            “Eren, I don’t give two shits what that shrimpy douchebag in a cravat has to say. I’m not going to believe that this thing is a goddamn Angel of the Lord, because he says so! And will you think with your upstairs brain for once in your goddamn life?”

            Eren’s ears turn bright red. “I do _not_ think he’s hot, why the fuck would you-“

            “Will you both shut up for a second? Look at this!” Armin says, pointing to the book. Mikasa and Eren make one more face each at one another, and then walk over to stand behind Armin.

            “I have stacks of lore, including biblical _and_ pre-biblical, some of it is in freaking cuneiform! And everything seems to agree that an angel _can_ snatch a soul from the pit!”        

            “What else,” Mikasa asks, ignoring Eren’s triumphant whoop.

            Armin frowns at her. “What else, what?”           

            “What else could do it?”

            “Pull you out of Hell? As far as I can tell, nothing.”

            Eren leans forward to study the book, saying, “Mikasa, this is good news!” As Eren speaks, Armin feels Eren’s breath on his neck and shivers slightly.

 

            “How?” Mikasa demands.

            “Because for once, this isn’t just another scenario where demons fuck up our shit. I mean, maybe you were saved by one of the good guys, you know?”

            She runs a hand down her face. “Okay. Let’s say it’s true. Let’s say there are angels, and that stuck-up dwarf is one of them. Then what? There’s a God?”

            “At this point that’s looking promising, yeah,” says Armin.

            “I don’t know, guys.”

            Eren groans, “Okay, look. I know you’re not one to believe in a higher power, but this is becoming less and less about faith and more and more about proof.” 

            “Proof?” 

            “Yes.”

            Mikasa barks out a laugh. “Proof that there’s a God out there that actually gives a damn about me, personally? I’m not buying it.”

            “Why not?” Armin asks.

            “Because, if there is a God out there, why would he care about _me_?” Mikasa blurts out.

            She regrets it almost immediately, because Eren immediately starts giving her the puppy-eye look he’s perfected through their years together. “Mikasa-“

            “I mean, I’ve saved many people, I know that,” she continues. “I figure that makes up for the stealing and the wh- and everything else. But why do I deserve to be saved like that?” 

            “Besides the obvious, like the fact that you are the most amazing woman I will ever know in my entire life, apparently God thinks you’re pretty important!” says Eren passionately. Armin nods.

            “Well, that creeps me out,” replies Mikasa. “I don’t like getting singled out by anyone, let alone… God.”

            “Okay, well, too bad, Mikasa, because I don’t think you can say no to God,” Eren snaps.

            Mikasa sighs deeply, and flops into the chair so recently vacated by Eren. She pulls her scarf up until it covers her eyes. “Fine. What do we know about angels?”

            She feels a large weight placed on her lap, and looks over the scarf to see a large pile of books Armin put on top of her. “Start reading,” he says.

            Mikasa looks at the books. The books look back. She turns to Eren. “You’re doing half of this. And before you do half of this, you’re going to get me some French fries.” He rolls his eyes and grabs the keys, leaving both of them reading in silence.

            But Mikasa can’t help but steam some more, because she doesn’t trust Leviel. Not at all. Until two days ago, angels didn’t exist, and now one of them saved her from hell? Please. Not to mention that Leviel looks like the antithesis of an angel. Just some stupid midget with weirdass clothes and a bad attitude. She’s supposed to pray to _that_?         

            She sighs loudly, and Armin glares at her. Picking up the book, she begins to decipher the Latin. But she’s only doing this in hopes that she’ll find proof that Leviel is just some demon crazy with hubris, and that the world still has some sense in it. 

            Eren drives until he finds the closest convenience store to Armin’s house. When he gets out of the Impala, he sees Annie waiting for him around the side of the building.      

            “Annie,” he greets.

            “So, is it true?” she asks without preamble. He’s a bit taken aback by how panicked she looks. 

            “Is what true?”

            “Did an angel rescue Mikasa?” 

            “You’ve heard,” observes Eren.

            “Who _hasn’t_?” she says.

            Eren shrugs, “We’re not completely sure, but I think so.”

            She blinks at him. “Okay. Good bye, Eren.” Before Eren can react, she does an about-face and starts walking away. 

            Eren quickly grabs her arm and turns her back to face him. “Whoa, wait, what? What the Hell is going on?”           

            Annie rolls her eyes. “Eren, they’re _angels_. I’m a demon. They aren’t going to care if I’m helping. They smite first, and ask questions later.” 

            Eren’s eyes widen, “Wait, what do you know about them?”           

            “Not much,” she grumbles, “I’ve never met one, and I don’t want to. All I know is that they scare the holy hell out of me. Watch yourself, Eren.”

            Eren’s never seen Annie show this much emotion before, and he really wishes he could come up with something to say that’s better than, “I’m not scared of angels.” But Annie doesn’t reply. Instead, she walks away, leaving Eren standing alone in the store’s parking lot.

            As soon as Eren gets back to the house, he’s greeted by Armin and Mikasa, who are standing on the front lawn. “Finish that reading already?” he asks.

            Armin’s face is grim. “I’ve been trying to reach this hunter I know one state over. I’ve been trying to reach her for three days to talk about this angel thing, and I’m getting worried. It’s not like her to ignore so many calls. Mikasa agreed to come check on her with me. Can you come as well? You guys would be following in the Impala.”

            “Of course he will,” Mikasa interjects as she walks to the driver’s side of the Impala. “Scoot over, bro.”

            “I was gonna say _yes,_ ” huffs Eren as he heads for the passenger’s seat. 

            “Whatever,” Mikasa says as she rummages through the bag of food Eren bought. “Hey, Eren…?” 

            “Yeah?”

            “Where are my goddamn fries?” 

            So the hunt’s already off to a bad start, and only gets worse. It officially kicks off with finding Armin’s friend dead on the floor, in a puddle of blood. The EMF meter goes wild, indicating serious ghost activity. Armin freaks and calls some more of his friends from the area, and they’re not answering their phones either. So the three start paying more house calls, and they only find more corpses. 

            “What the hell is going on here?” Mikasa says. “Why did a bunch of ghosts suddenly decide to kill off-duty hunters?” 

            “I don’t know,” moans Armin, “But until we find out, I want you both to stay with me.”

            Mikasa and Eren agree, and the trio makes tracks for Armin’s house. But they barely settle down to sleep before they’re each ambushed by some seriously pissed-off spirits.

            At first Mikasa doesn’t recognize the ghost of Hitch’s old vessel. “This is what I looked like before that demon cut off my hair and dressed me like a slut,” the girl hisses. “Nice to finally talk to you when I’m not, you know, choking on my own blood?” She informs Mikasa that she not only was wide aware of all of the horrible things Hitch did, she also had to deal with the fact that her younger sister committed suicide as a result of Hitch’s absence.           

            “I’m sorry,” Mikasa says.

            Hitch raises an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? So sorry that you had me thrown off a building?” She hurls more insults, while kicking the crap out of Mikasa, who feels the guilt churn in her, full-force.

            Eren has to fight off Keith Shadis, the FBI agent who made he and Mikasa’s lives hell until he finally figured out they were telling the truth about the paranormal, only to die brutally at the hands of Lilith. He escapes him temporarily, and begins the search for Armin.

            He takes way too long, and finally, in the back of the store, he finds Armin held captive by twin girls straight out of the Shining.

            Armin knows them from a past hunt gone awry, one of the major reasons he decided to give up active hunting and set up a semi-life for himself. He’s not only terrified; he’s also wracked with regret, and Eren pumps the twins full of rock salt in the knick of time.

            Mikasa scares away Hitch by dropping an iron chandelier on her, and the trio reconvenes in Armin’s study.

            “So, they’re all people we know?” Eren asks. 

            “Not just people we _know_ ,” mutters Mikasa, “People we failed to save. Did Hitch have a tattoo when she was alive?” 

            “Umm… I don’t think so…” replies Eren. “Why?”

            “I saw something on her hand… it looked like a brand.”

            Armin looks up at this. “Did Shadis have a mark, too?”

            Eren considers it. “Yeah, actually, I think he did.” 

            “What did it look like?” Armin asks.

            Mikasa grabs a piece of paper and a pencil, and draws the mark as she remembers it. “Yeah, that’s it,” Eren agrees. 

            “Oh… oh _shit_ ,” says Armin. “I’ve seen this before, and we have to move. Follow me.” 

            “Where are we going?” asks Eren.

            “Someplace safe, you idiot!” Armin grabs a couple books and proceeds to lead them to a basement room that neither Mikasa nor Eren has ever seen before. It’s not extremely large, but the ceiling is pretty high. There’s a cot, a fridge, a couple cabinets, and some posters. It’s also completely covered in sigils like pentagrams and devil’s traps. Mikasa and Eren’s jaws drop.

            “Armin…” Mikasa says finally, “Is this…?”

            “Solid iron. Completely coated in salt. 100% ghost proof,” Armin says.

            Mikasa looks at him with respect. “You built a panic room?” 

            Armin shrugs, beaming with suppressed pride. “I had a weekend off.”

            “Armin,” Eren says, standing with his back to Armin. 

            “What?” says Armin nervously.

            Eren turns around and bumps his hip into Armin’s. He’s smiling widely, and his blue-green eyes are wide-open in respect and astonishment. “You’re so fucking _awesome_ ,” Eren breathes.

            For a moment the danger is completely forgotten. Armin feels his face get hot as his smile gets even wider.

            “We’ll be able to appreciate it better when we’re not using it to hide from murderous vengeful spirits,” says Mikasa dryly. The two boys blink and step back from each other, their faces a bit flushed.

            As Armin begins to research, Mikasa and Eren get to work making more rock salt bullets. “See,” Mikasa says suddenly, breaking the silence, “This is why I can’t let myself believe that there’s a God.”

            Eren looks at her, frowning. “What are you talking about?”

            “If God doesn’t exist, fine. Bad things happen to good people. That’s how it is. The world is cruel. No sense of fairness- just random, horrible evil- I get that. I can work with that. But, if there _is_ a God out there, what’s wrong with Them? Where the hell are They while all these good people are getting torn to shreds? Why doesn’t God help?”

            There’s a short silence following Mikasa’s words. Finally, Armin speaks up, “Well, I don’t think this is a good time for a theological discussion, at any rate…”

            Mikasa sighs. “Yeah.”

            “But I found what I was looking for, and you’re not going to like it,” continues Armin. Eren and Mikasa look at him eagerly. “The symbol you both saw, the mark that was on all of the ghosts…”

            “Yeah?” prompts Eren.         

            “It’s a Mark of the Witness.” 

            “Witness? Witness to what?” 

            “The unnatural,” Armin replies, his nose in the book. “None of them died what you would call ‘ordinary’ deaths. They died, and then they were forced to rise. They woke up in agony, and now they’re basically rabid. It’s not their fault. Someone forced them to rise on purpose.” 

            “Who?” demands Eren. 

            Armin sighs, “Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing that. But what I do know is that whoever it was used a spell so powerful it left a mark on their souls, which is the brand on their skin. And whoever did this had big plans. This event is called ‘the rising of the witnesses’, and it’s a part of an ancient prophecy.”

            “Wait, wait,” interjects Mikasa. “What book is this prophecy from?”

            Armin’s eyes are wide with worry. “Revelations. This is a sign.” 

            “A sign of what?” Mikasa and Eren say in unison. 

            “The apocalypse,” answers Armin, planting his arms on the desk and burying his face in them, “The _freaking apocalypse_!” 

            There’s a pause, which Eren, of course, breaks: “Apocalypse? The apocalypse, apocalypse? The biblical ending-it-all apocalypse?

            “That’s the one,” Armin mumbles to the desk, “The rise of the witnesses is a- a mile marker.” 

            Mikasa takes a deep breath. “Ok, so, what do we do now? Road trip? Grand Canyon, Disney Land, Vegas?”

            “Before we do anything else, we have to find some way to stop those spirits,” Armin points out, raising his head reluctantly.

            “Great. Any ideas aside from staying in this room until ‘God’ turns out the lights?” she asks. 

            “There is one thing,” Armin says, looking at the book intensely, “It’s a spell to send the witnesses back to rest. According to this, it should work.”

            “Oh, _should_ , that’s great,” groans Eren. 

            Armin gives him a look. “If I translated it correctly, and I probably did, I think I have everything needed for the ritual in the house.” 

            “Is there any chance you have everything we need here in this room?” Mikasa says hopefully. 

            Armin laughs joylessly. “So, you thought our luck was going to start now all of a sudden? The spell has to be cast over an open fire.” 

            “The fireplace in the library,” Eren groans. 

            Armin nods. “Exactly.” 

            They get ready, grabbing every single bullet they can find. But it’s still a close call, especially when a new witness comes to play. Jurgen, that dorky guy who helped them fight the shape shifter in the bank. Mikasa sighs. She remembers him rambling on about robots like it was yesterday. 

            So it’s Jurgan, Vernan, the twins, and Hitch’s vessel chasing them around the house as they frantically try to snag the ingredients needed for the spell. The moment they shoot one, another one pops up, and it’s exhausting.

            Upstairs, Eren finds the red box Armin requested of him in a cupboard. “You know what really pisses me off, Eren?” Eren whips around and fires at Hitch, but she dodges it easily. “You saw how I suffered for _months_. I thought you must have learned something. I thought I _died_ for something!” 

            Eren swallows uncomfortably. “Hitch-“ 

            “But what you’re doing with that demon, Annie… how many innocent bodies has Annie destroyed out of convenience? How many girls, just like me? And you don’t send her back to hell?” Her face is a mixture of rage and grief. “You’re a monster! You should be hunting _yourself_.” 

            Eren shoots her quickly. He’s not about to take morality advice from a rabid spirit. 

            In the kitchen, Mikasa’s looking for a false-bottomed drawer when the kitchen doors suddenly slam shut. She hears Armin call out, “Mikasa?”

            “I’m all right, Armin! Keep working on that spell!” she calls back.

            As she searches she feels a sudden chill in the air, and she hears a familiar voice say, “Mikasa.” 

            “Keith,” she replies, standing to face him, “I know.” 

            “No,” he says calmly, “You don’t.”

            “I don’t have time for this, Keith. I get it. It’s my fault you’re dead, I left you behind. And the moment I heard about that explosion, I thought, ‘I should have known’. I should have protected you.” Mikasa reaches for her gun, but with a twitch of Kitts’ fingers it gets sent flying across the room. 

            “Oh, no. Not so fast,” he spits. “You think you left and Lilith came and we all died in a blast of light? If only. Forty-five minutes, actually." 

            He can’t possibly mean what she thinks he means. “What?”

            “It took over forty-five minutes. Lilith said she wanted to have some _fun_.”

            Mikasa feels tears forming in her eyes. “ _No_ ,” she whispers.

            “I was the last.” 

            “Keith…” She can’t finish what she was planning on saying because he flickers directly in front of her and thrusts his hand into her chest, gripping her heart. Now, Mikasa may be fresh out of hell, but the pain is far from bearable.

            “Tell me how it’s fair,” he hisses in her ear. “You got saved from Hell, and I die. Why do _you_ deserve another chance, Mikasa?”

            She’s saved by Eren, who shoots Shadis and runs over to Mikasa, wrapping his hands around her waist to lift her up. “You all right?”

            “No,” she growls.

            “Let’s go.” They grab the ingredients, make it to the library, and everything else goes fairly smoothly, except for when Hitch’s vessel plunges a hand into Armin’s back. Armin drops the bowl of ingredients and cries in pain.         

            Eren promptly runs to Armin, grabbing the bowl and tossing it to Mikasa, who throws it into the fireplace. The fire roars and turns a turquoise colour, and by the time it returns to normal the ghosts have all disappeared. Armin drops to the ground. “Armin!” Eren yells. He and Mikasa help Armin up, who nods.

            “’m okay,” he mumbles. Eren breathes a sigh of relief.

            “From now on, you’re sticking to books,” he accuses 

            “Yeah, well, you’re welcome for letting you into my freaking house, Jaeger,” Armin manages, with a small smile.

 

* * *

           

            Eren and Mikasa Jaeger met Armin Arlert when Grisha moved them to Zhiganshima Elementary, for third grade. Despite having an incredibly interesting name, it was an incredibly mundane school, and the two were not impressed.

            One day on the playground, they see three big fifth graders ganging up on a blonde, blue-eyed, bite-sized second grader. The poor kid doesn’t stand a chance, but he’s still taunting them, boldly declaring that the fact that they’ve resorted to violence means he’s won the battle. He then immediately takes a hit to the left eye, and before he can start crying, Mikasa and Eren knock his bullies flat on the ground.           

            “Th- thanks,” he babbles in shock. “Thanks, uh-“ But before he can say anything else, they’re gone.

            He meets them again, not a week later, when he’s covered in his parent’s blood and crying uncontrollably. The weird man in glasses, the man who killed the monster, puts an arm around him and leads him away from his house. He’s led to a car, and at first he thinks this is a new monster, but the car opens and there they are, his two saviors.

            “You were right, Mikasa,” the man says. “The Titan lived next store to this boy. I couldn’t save his parents, or his grandfather, so I think he’s going to have to come with us.”

            Eren and Mikasa’s eyes widen, and Armin cringes. They’re going to reject him. He’s not cool like them, and he can’t flatten bullies. Or save his parents.

            Instead, they hug him tightly, their larger bodies concealing him from the cold open space.

 

            He feels warmth and comfort, and he stops crying.          

            “I’m Eren, and this is Mikasa,” he faintly hears the boy say. “We’re your family now.”

            “I’m Armin,” he chokes out. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” It’s all he can think to say.

            He doesn’t need to be told about the monsters. He infers. And that’s about when his childhood ends.           

            He knew just as well as Mikasa and Eren that Grisha was somewhat crazy, and had been ever since Carla died. They were living out of motels, sometimes cramming themselves into the Impala for a night, and they avoided police like the plague. Grisha would leave them for long durations of time, in which they’d scrounge for food and clothing. Eren pickpocketed. Mikasa would come home in the early mornings, clothes disheveled and eyes hollow, with money. She would never tell them how she got it.

            But Armin stayed, for the same reason Mikasa and Eren stayed. They were a trio, a team. They’d sooner lose an appendage than lose a member of their little family.

            From the beginning, he saw how amazing Eren and Mikasa were, how finely they fought, and how bravely they faced such horrifying creatures. He knew he couldn’t keep up with them. How could he, when he still needed them to fend off bullies at their various schools?

            He tried to make himself useful. He’s always had a keen mind, with a photographic memory, and he put it to use memorizing entire books of lore. Yet he still holds them back, and sometimes at night his nightmares take the form of them realizing the truth, and leaving him behind to face the horrors of the world alone.

 

* * *

 

            It’s nighttime, and Eren is passed out on Armin’s couch, snoring extremely loudly, like always. It’s something that Mikasa’s learned to tolerate, and she’s sleeping on the floor near him. Suddenly she jerks awake, and grits her teeth, because _he’s_ standing in Armin’s kitchen. Leviel, with his stupid cravat and stupid face and stupid polished shoes. The perfect ending to a fucking terrible day.

            She checks to make sure that Eren’s still sleeping, and walks over to join Leviel in the kitchen. He’s leaning against the sink, with his palms gripping the edges, facing her and staring as she walks up to him. “Not bad, handling the witnesses,” he drawls.

            “Wait a- you _knew_ about all of this?” Mikasa snaps. 

            “I was made aware, yes. I take it from your pout that your delicate mortal feelings are hurt?” 

            Mikasa is furious. “Well, thanks a lot for the angelic assistance. You know, I almost got my heart ripped out of my chest.”

            He shrugs, and she resists the urge to strangle him. “But you didn’t, did you?”           

            “I thought angels were supposed to be _guardians_. Fluffy wings, halos- you know. Not _dicks_.”

            Leviel rolls his eyes, and Mikasa imagines gouging them out. “Read the bible, Jaeger. Angels are warriors of God. I’m a _soldier_.” 

            “Yeah? Then why didn’t you _fight_?” she challenges. 

            “I’m not here to perch on your shoulder,” he says apathetically. “I had more important things to do. Larger concerns.” 

            “ _Concerns?_ There were people getting torn to shreds down here! And, by the way, while all of this shit is going on, where the Hell is your boss, huh? If there even is a God?” She’s trying to tower over him, use her height to her advantage, but he stares up at her without fear.

            “There is a God.”

            “I’m not at all convinced. ‘Cause if there’s a God, what the hell are they waiting for, huh? Genocide? Monsters roaming the earth? The fucking _apocalypse?_ ” She realizes she’s being too loud, and steps back from him, calming herself. Quietly she hisses, “At what point do they lift a damn finger and help the poor bastards that are stuck down here?”

            “The Lord works…”

            “If you say “mysterious ways” so help me, I will kick your ass.” 

            “Just you try it,” he smirks, holding out his arms as an invitation.

            She decides that might not be such a good idea. “So, Armin was right… about the witnesses. This _is_ some kind of a… sign of the apocalypse.”

            “Ooh, looks like you mortals can figure _something_ out. Good job! Do you want a cookie? Anyway, that’s why we’re here. Big-ass things are afoot.”        

            She sighs. “Do I want to know what kind of things?” 

            “I sincerely doubt it, but you do need to know. The rising of the witnesses is one of the 66 seals.”

            “Okay… I’m guessing that’s not a show at Seaworld.”

            “Cute,” Leviel says, looking as if he’s swallowed a lemon. “The seals are being broken by Lilith, smartass.”

            Oh, _shit_. “She did the spell. She rose the witnesses,” Mikasa realizes.

            Leviel raises an eyebrow. “Your mortal powers of deduction amaze me. But it wasn’t just here. Twenty other hunters are dead.”

            Mikasa hisses out a curse. “Of course. She picked victims that the hunters couldn’t save so that they would come after us.” 

            “Lilith has a sense of humor that I can appreciate, on a certain level,” Leviel says.

            Mikasa glares at him. “Well at any rate, we put those spirits back to rest.” 

            It doesn’t matter,” Leviel sighs, “The seal was broken.”

            “Why break the seal, anyway?” 

            “Let’s see, how to put this so that a _mortal_ could understand it…” Mikasa feels her eye twitch. “You can think of the seals as locks on a door.” 

            “Okay. Last one opens, and…” She looks at him expectantly, and is surprised by how dark his expression has just gotten. 

            “Lucifer walks free.”

            She searches for his typical sarcastic tone, or a hint of a smile on his lips, but he stares her down, completely serious. “Lucifer?” she repeats, dumbfounded. “But I thought Lucifer was just a story the demons believed in. There’s no such thing.”

            “Don’t be so fucking dense,” he says. “Three days ago, you thought there was no such thing as _me_. Why do you think we’re paying you mortals a visit after 2000 years of blissful separation?”

            “To stop Lucifer,” she says miserably. 

            “That’s why we’re here.”

            “Well…” She feels sick to her stomach, and all she can do is blame Leviel. “Bang-up job so far. Stellar work, with the witnesses. This is just so fucking _great_ -“

            “We tried,” he says sternly, “And there are many other battles, other seals. Some we’ll win, some we’ll lose, and this one, we lost. Our numbers are not unlimited. Six of my siblings died in the field this week. You think the armies of Heaven should just follow you and your precious boy-toys around? There’s a bigger picture here.” He notices her rolling her eyes, and his expression becomes terrifying as he darts out an arm to grab her by the scarf and pull her down until she’s at his level, way too close to his cold eyes and fine lips.

            “You should show me some respect,” he hisses, and his breath hits her lips, “I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in.” Mikasa can’t suppress a shiver. She prepares a retort, but he vanishes, leaving her alone in the kitchen.

            Mikasa opens her eyes. She’s lying on the floor, having just woken up. Fuck, she was _dreaming_? That squirt can enter her _dreams_ , now? Wonderful. But she has bigger fish to fry at the moment. Sitting up, she sees Eren already awake, rummaging through Armin’s kitchen. She walks toward him, and there must be something off about her expression, because he asks her, “Morning, you alright?”

            She looks at him blankly. “So, Eren… you have no problem believing in… God, and angels?”

            “No, not really…” he says slowly, looking at her warily.

            “So, I guess that means that you believe in the Devil.”

            Eren’s eyebrows rise even higher, and he puts a hot hand on her shoulder, right where Leviel’s handprint is burned onto her skin. She flinches. “Why are you asking me all this, Mikasa? Are you sure you’re alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you so much for reading! As of now, chapters will still be uploaded weekly.
> 
> All credit for the art goes to Gwen (armlnarlert.tumblr.com, art blog is thiscatdraws.tumblr.com)
> 
> You can find me at erenjaegrrr.tumblr.com *shameless promotion here*


	3. Where is the Boy King?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi shows Mikasa her family's past, and the origin of their troubles with the Yellow-Eyed Demon Azazel. Then, prompted by Levi, Mikasa also discovers that Eren is still using his psychic abilities. Everyone gets pretty angry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this is a short chapter because I didn't want to put the whole next hunt in here, otherwise it would be crazy long. But this has one of my favourite scenes so far so hopefully y'all will still enjoy it.
> 
> There will be MORE ART added later, so keep checking back!

            As Mikasa and Armin sleep, Eren creeps out of Armin’s house, meeting Annie as she pulls up in a sporty light-blue car. “Ready?” she asks.

            “Hell, yeah,” he says, buckling in on the passenger side.

            As he rides away from her, Mikasa dreams. Her dreams aren’t clear, just a horrible mess of red and pain and screaming. She bolts awake, only to come face to face with Leviel, sitting on Armin’s couch with her.         

            “Hello, Ackerman,” he says with a bored expression on his face, “What were you dreaming about?”

            “What the fuck is your problem?” she demands. She pulls the covers over her chest as she remembers that she’s not wearing a bra under her t-shirt. “Do you get your kicks from watching other people sleep? What the fuck do you want?”

            “Don’t flatter yourself, shut up, and listen to me. There are things you need to know, and for some unknown reason it has been declared my burden to inform you.”

            “Can’t this wait until it’s not ass o’ clock in the morning?” Mikasa asks rudely, but Leviel’s already putting two fingers to her forehead.

            It feels like she’s walking through a memory. She sees her parents, Grisha and Carla, so bizarrely young. She learns about Carla’s family, a family of hunters, something that Grisha, Mikasa, Eren, and Armin never knew. Carla and the grandfather Mikasa never knew go on the hunt for Azazel, the same yellow-eyed son of a bitch who ended up killing Carla, infecting Eren with demon blood, and dying when Mikasa shot him with the Colt. Mikasa nearly cries when she sees Carla tell her grandfather that the worst thing she could possibly imagine is having her children growing up to become hunters.    

            Azazel possesses her grandfather, kills Grisha, and offers Carla a deal: Grisha’s life in exchange for Carla allowing Azazel to make a ‘little visit’ to her house in ten years. And Mikasa understands everything, now.           

            Suddenly, she’s in the motel room with Leviel again. His face is emotionless as he watches her struggle with the amount of knowledge she just gained.

            “Mom made the deal…” Mikasa breathes. 

            “That’s right,” he replies. “Now you know the truth. Now you know everything we do. Well, everything we want you to know, anyway.”

            “What the hell are you going on about?” Mikasa angrily asks. But all Leviel does is look over at Eren’s bed. Eren isn’t in it and, judging by the unwrinkled bedclothes, it clearly hasn’t been slept in. “Where’s Eren?” 

            “We know what Azazel did to your brother. What we don’t know is why. He covered that up pretty fucking well.”

            “ _Where’s Eren_?” Mikasa repeats through gritted teeth, with her hands fisted. If this little shit has hurt her brother, she’ll gladly go back to hell for killing an angel.

            “425 Waterman,” Leviel says. He looks at her, as if he’s waiting for what she’s gonna do next. She leaps off the couch, pulls on a pair of jeans, and grabs her keys and jacket.

            As she puts the keys in the ignition and peels out of the motel parking lot, Leviel’s final words echo in her head.

            “Your brother is heading down a dangerous road, Mikasa, and we’re not sure where it leads. So stop it. Or I _will_ kill him, I promise.”

* * *

          

            “Where’s Lilith?” Eren demands. He’s standing in a warehouse. The fluorescent lighting flickers every so often as it illuminates the demon tied to a chair in the center of a crimson Devil’s Trap. Annie stands behind Eren, nearby in the shadows. Her arms crossed, and she’s watching everything.

            “Kiss my ass,” says the demon.

            Eren bares his teeth. “I’d watch myself if I were you, you fucking monstrosity.”

            “Why? Huh?” demands the demon, a smile on his face. “Because you’re Eren Jaeger, Mr. Big Hero? And yet here you are, slutting around with some demon. Some hero.”

            “Shut your mouth!” yells Eren. He lunges, but Annie places a hand on his shoulder.           

            “Tell me more about those months without your sister. About all the things you and this demon bitch do in the dark,” coos the demon. Annie looks at Eren and nods. 

            With a growl, Eren raises a palm. Black smoke pours out of the man’s mouth, thick and nasty.  Annie smirks. 

            Through the window, Mikasa sees everything.

            Eren unties the now-unconscious man, and checks for a pulse. He beams at Annie. 

            “How did it feel?” she asks.

            “Awesome. No more headaches, too!” 

            “None? Good. You’re improving." 

            “So…” Mikasa spits. Eren starts and turns around, to find her walking towards him, her eyes aflame. His mouth drops open in a perfect ‘o’ of horror. “Is there anything you want to talk about, Eren?”

            Eren holds his hands up. “Mikasa, hold on, okay? Just let me-“ 

            “Are you going to say, “Let me explain”? You can explain _this_? How about you start with who _she_ is, and what the hell she’s doing here?” Mikasa glares at him, but she’s having trouble putting any power behind her anger. Her baby brother…

            “It’s good to see you again, Mikasa,” the blonde says. No, she _purrs_. There’s an unmistakable note of smug satisfaction in her voice that Mikasa would recognize anywhere.

            Mikasa blinks. “Is that Annie, Eren? Are you fucking _Annie_?”

            Eren can’t look her in the eye, and that’s a yes. Mikasa sees red, and in a second she has Annie against the wall, ready to stab her with her own stupid knife.

            But Eren grabs Mikasa’s arm. “Don’t, Mikasa!” They struggle for the knife, and Eren somehow grabs it. And Annie, that _fucking bitch_ , pins Mikasa against the wall.

            “Annie! Stop it!” Eren yells.

            Annie stares at Mikasa for a second, and then lets go, stepping back. “Well,” rasps Mikasa, “Aren’t you an obedient little bitch?”

            Annie leans forward, intent on another attack. “Annie,” Eren says quietly, in a pleading sort of voice. Annie ignores him, focusing on Mikasa. “Annie, he’s hurt…” Eren protests, gesturing to the man on the floor.

            After giving Mikasa one last glare, Annie storms away, first stooping down to grab the stirring man. Even though she’s about half the pudgy man’s size, she holds him easily. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” yells Mikasa.         

            “The ER,” Annie coolly replies, “Unless you want to go another round first?” Mikasa can’t think of anything to say to that. Annie walks out with the man, slamming the warehouse door behind her.

            Now they’re alone, and Eren looks at Mikasa sheepishly. “Mikasa…” 

            She turns around, walking out the door.         

            “Mikasa! Wait, please…” But she’s gone.

            Eren goes back to Armin’s house, mute and sullen. Armin asks him many frantic questions (“Where’s Mikasa? What happened? I woke up and you both were gone. Eren, please, I’m scared, what’s going on? Eren, talk to me, please, just say something, say anything…”), but he refuses to answer them.

            It’s not until the next day, hunched over the kitchen table with a half empty can of beer (definitely not his first, but he’s lost count of how many he’s had), trying his best to ignore a desperate Armin staring at him from across the table, that he hears the Impala. Two minutes later, Mikasa stomps into the living room room. Eren stands up quickly, knocking over his chair, but Mikasa ignores him as she begins to pack up her stuff. Eren slowly walks over to her. “’Kasa, what-”

            “Armin? Do you want to stay with Eren, or come with me?”

            “Are you leaving?” Armin says, shocked, “Why?”

            Eren tries again, “Mikasa, please—“          

            “You don’t need me,” Mikasa says coldly, “You and _Annie_ go fight demons.” She picks up her bag and starts for the door. But Eren, persistent and stupid, blocks her way.

            “Can someone _please_ tell me what’s going on,” Armin begs.

            “Eren has been taking a few tips from his _girlfriend_ Annie,” spits Mikasa. “Such as how to use his psychic powers to _control demons_.”

            “Eren, is that true? I thought she was dead! You- you and her- I thought we—”

            “Armin, I’m sorry, I just had to… Mikasa, please, just—“           

            Mikasa punches Eren in the face, hard. Armin gasps, but he knows better to try and get between this quarrel. Eren takes a few seconds to regain balance, and when he faces her again, tears are in his eyes.

            “You satisfied?” he asks, attempting bravado.

            Mikasa hits him again. This time Eren is bleeding.

            Armin tries again, “Mikasa, take it easy, maybe we should let him explain—“

            “Shut up, Armin. Do you even know what you’ve done, Eren? How far from normal you’re becoming? How far from human?”

            “I’m exorcising demons, Mikasa! I’m doing what we’ve always dreamed of!” 

            “With your _mind_!” Mikasa shrieks. She gathers herself, and calmly asks, “What else can you do?”

            “I… I can send them back to hell.” Jesus, he seems proud about this. “It only works with demons, and that’s it, I swear!”

            She grabs him by his shirt and pushes him backwards. “What else can you do?!?”

            “I just told you!”

            Mikasa releases him, smiling bitterly. “And I have every reason to believe that.”

            “Look, I should have said someth—" 

            “Damn right, you should have! Eren. I’ve had your back since you were a _baby_! If you’d have just told me about this when I came back, I might have… you mean so much to me, and you don’t even trust me?” Mikasa feels jealousy surging through her like acid. The fact that Eren confided in a fucking _demon_ and not his own goddamn sister is making her want to vomit.

            “Mikasa, try and see the other side, here!” Eren protests.

            “The other side?”

            “I’m pulling demons out of innocent people!” His eyes are bright, wide, and sincere.

            She wants so badly to believe him, forgive him. But she soldiers on. “Then use the fucking knife!”

            “The knife kills the victim! When I do it, most of them survive! I’ve saved more people in the last five months than we save in a _year_.” 

            Mikasa rolls her eyes, “That what Annie wants you to think? Huh? Kind of like the way she’s tricked you into using your powers?” She notices her argument hasn’t changed Eren’s determined expression at all. Crushed, she drops her head. “This power of yours? It’s only going to get darker and darker, and God knows where it will end.” 

            “I’m not gonna let it go too far!”

            “It’s already gone too far, Eren,” Mikasa says firmly. “If I didn’t know you… I would hunt you.”

            Eren recoils like she’s just slapped him. “But I’m doing _good things_ , Mikasa!” Tears start trickling down his face.

            “Are you sure about that, Eren? If you’re doing so well… then why did you lie to me?” He has no answer to that. “Why did Leviel tell me to stop you?” 

            Eren looks up, surprised. “What? Leviel said that?”

            “Yes. Leviel said that if I don’t stop you, he will. That means _God_ doesn’t want you doing this.” 

            “But, Mikasa, Leviel doesn’t—“

            “My ears are burning,” a cold voice says. Armin, Mikasa, and Eren whip around to see Leviel standing not two feet away from Eren. He doesn’t look very happy.     

            Levi grabs Eren by his upper arm and suddenly, the two of them are in an alley. He whips Eren into the alley’s brick wall so fast that Eren’s seeing stars. “Wha—what the hell is wrong with you?” Eren gasps, attempting to walk forward, but as soon as he does, Levi fists his jacket in both hands and flings him into the wall again. Eren’s head makes a horrible cracking noise on the brick, and he sinks to the ground, groaning.

            “You listen up, brat, and you listen good,” Levi says. He whips his leg, giving a swift and furious kick to Eren’s cheek. Eren feels a tooth leave his mouth and hears it bounce onto the pavement. But Levi’s not done, ramming his knee into Eren’s neck twice, kicking him over and over, until Eren’s choking on his own blood.

            “But… Levi… I—“ Levi slams Eren’s head face-first on the ground by pressing the back of Eren’s head with his foot.

            “I’m not sure you’re smart enough to understand what’s at stake here, but I’ll remind you that _Lilith is attempting to release the devil,_ and you’re a huge liability in our efforts to stop her.” Levi gives Eren a couple more kicks, and Eren realizes: Levi’s going to kill him. “You’re off being a fucking moron, trying to control things you don’t even understand. We’re doing so much for you, _I’m_ doing so much for you, and you choose to go to that bitch for a cheap hit of shitty blood?”

            As Eren has his face pushed upward by the sole of Levi’s boot, he mumbles.

            Levi hits him two more times, and then lifts up Eren by his hair, kneeling down so that he’s on Eren’s level. “What was that, brat?”

            “If you’re gonna kill me… then do it,” Eren slurs through blood. He tries focusing on Levi’s face, but he can’t even tell whether it’s day or night anymore. Levi pauses, letting go of Eren, and Eren’s head flops down, as the palms of his hands hit the cold conrete. What the hell is Levi planning here? “Just do it!”

            Levi gives him two more blows, but they’re lacking the power of his previous ones. “Don’t be stupid. Well, try to be a little less stupid than you normally are. I… we still need you, Eren.” Eren feels Levi pick him up, slinging him over his shoulder, and he gets the twisting motion in his gut that means they’ve teleported.

It’s an incredibly awkward silence that Armin and Mikasa share, waiting for Leviel and Eren to return. Armin runs a hand through his hair, tries to read a book, but he can sense the anger radiating from Mikasa and it’s incredibly distracting. Not to mention that Armin himself is worried sick about this demon blood business. His best friend, the man he cares for more than any other in the world, is playing with fire and if something happens to him, if the angels or demons or whoever destroy him… well, Armin can’t bear to even think about it. Even if the thought of Eren sleeping with Annie feels like a rusty knife in his side.

            Suddenly, wind blows through the room, the sound of feathers fills the air, and Armin and Mikasa look up, startled. Leviel is back, and he’s carrying Eren, but Eren looks dead, cut up and bloodied and bruised. For a second Armin feels as though he’s drowning (not _again_ , please God not again), but Eren lets out a faint groan, and he relaxes slightly. “What happened to him?” he squeaks.

            “Me,” Leviel says matter-of-factly.

            Out of the corner of his eye, Armin sees Mikasa lunge towards Leviel, and he quickly grabs her arm. “Mikasa!” he whispers. She could easily break his hold, but she doesn’t. She just stands there, glaring at Leviel as if she’s imagining just exactly how she would kill him. Leviel notices, and quirks an eyebrow at her. Then he places Eren on the living room couch, surprisingly gently.

            “I had to prove to some of my more… _obstinate_ siblings that Eren isn’t a threat. They saw him committing unholy acts and started pissing themselves. But it worked. You don’t have to worry about angel interference for the time being. Plus, maybe the brat won’t fuck around with demons for a while, if we’re really lucky and he finally starts using his brain.”

            “You motherfucking—“

            “You think the Military Garrison would have treated him any better? Whatever, Mikasa. I’ve yet to hear a single thank you for all the things I’ve done to help you. And you can’t let your weird incestuous love for this abomination get in the way of winning the war. Remember that.” And he’s gone, with another burst of wind and the sound of feathers.           

            Mikasa pulls out of Armin’s grip, and together they run to Eren, who’s so injured that he barely acknowledges them. They tend to Eren’s wounds the best they can, but less than ten minutes later Leviel is back. 

            He looks almost embarrassed as he presses two fingers to Eren’s forehead, healing the hunter completely. Eren sighs happily and rolls over in his sleep. He looks as if he were never injured in his life.           

            “Eriel made me do this, alright?” he says in response to Armin and Mikasa’s surprised faces. “Don’t count on me to heal you brats on a regular basis, because that’s a waste of my time.” And he’s gone again.

            “See, Mikasa? That was nice of him!” says Armin. 

            “Hhhhh. I still want to shove one of those angel knives up his ass. And he's not telling us _anything._ Just dropping random names of angels and garrisons.”

            As soon as Eren wakes up, Mikasa punches him again. She prepares to continue the argument, but Armin interrupts as he announces that he got a call from Hannes about a Titan in Carthage, Missouri. He’s extremely relieved that he doesn’t need to ask them to go without him (he’s never faced a Titan since his first family’s death, and he never will if he can help it). Both Mikasa and Eren immediately volunteer, although neither of them is happy about it.

            Mikasa takes advantage of this brief armistice to inform both of them of what Leviel showed her about Eren’s parents. They’re all relaxed, now, Eren sitting against the arm of the couch, Mikasa sitting on a chair facing the bed with her legs swung over the side, and Armin hugging his knees at the other end of the couch.

            Shocked, Eren shakes his head. “I can’t believe it. Mom, a hunter?”

            “I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t seen it myself,” agrees Mikasa. “But that woman could kick some ass. I mean, she almost took _me_ down.”

            “Well, _I’m_ not at all surprised,” Armin pipes up. “With how fierce her children turned out.”         

            Eren smiles slightly. “How’d she look?” he suddenly asks. “I mean… was she happy?”

            Mikasa grins at him, despite everything. “Yeah, she was. Funny and smart, too. So hopeful.” There’s a pause. “Dad, too. Until of course…”          

            “Yeah,” Eren says. He sighs.

            “What?” asks Armin.

            “Nothing.” There’s a pause, as Armin and Mikasa wait for Eren to come out with it. “It’s just… our parents. And now our grandparents too? Our whole family killed, and for what? So that yellow-eyed motherfucker could get in my bedroom and bleed in my mouth?” He bangs his fist against the couch, uselessly.

            Armin frowns at this, “Wait, bleed in your mouth? What?”

            Mikasa squints at Eren. “I never said anything about demon blood…” Eren’s eyes widen, and he looks guilty as all hell. “You knew about that?” 

            The little prick won’t make eye contact again. “Yeah… for about a year.”

            Is he fucking serious? “A whole _year_?”

            “Wait, what about demon blood? Demon blood in Eren’s mouth?” Armin feels awfully left out.

            “Tell us, Eren,” Mikasa growls.

            “We… umm…” It’s so hard for Eren to face Armin nowadays, with all that’s been going on. All he wants is to regain the closeness they once had, but Eren is sure that he’s fucked everything up too badly for that. He’s a fucking monster now, anyway. Armin probably wants nothing to do with him. “Azazel visited a couple times when I was in that ghost town, with the other ‘special children’. He told me about how he had gave me some of his blood to drink, which is how I got my powers.” 

            “Eren…” Armin gasps, getting up to go put an arm on his shoulder, but Eren, averting his gaze, holds up a hand.

            “I should have told you both. I’m sorry.”

            “You’ve been saying that a lot lately, Eren,” grouses Mikasa, “But, whatever. If you don’t want to tell me anything, you don’t have to. It’s fine.”

            “Mikasa…” Eren protests.

            “Now let’s get going before this Titan eats someone else,” she says briskly, standing up to go pack. 

            Eren sighs, “Whatever.”

            Armin watches them drive off in the impala sadly. He wishes to God that he could stop their fighting, or at least give them a piece of his mind, but he’s learned through the years that there’s no way of stopping them once they get going.

            He also wishes he could talk to Eren. The demon blood thing… it’s scaring the Hell out of him. He knows Eren must be killing himself over this, and Armin wants nothing more than to be able to sit down with him and force him to see that Eren Jaeger is an amazing man, no matter what his blood is composed of.

            Armin’s also fucking furious, too. He wants to somehow get Azazel back just to shoot him again. He wants to strangle Annie, rip her apart, and he’s always argued that she’s been helping them. Fuck her. Fuck everyone who’s playing with Eren like he’s a goddamn toy. He’s been through enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yep, so I combined the iconic SNK courtroom scene with the iconic 'Cas beats up Dean' scene. Violent, huh?
> 
> like always, I feel the need to mention that my tumblr is erenjaegrrr.tumblr.com 
> 
> All art credit goes to Gwen, who you can find at armlnarlert.tumblr.com and thiscatdraws.tumblr.com (her art blog)
> 
> I have published the first chapter of another story! It has Levi training Armin, Eren being stupid and misunderstanding things, and the Survey Corps members being gossipy bitches. You should check it out!
> 
> (Also comments are always appreciated, guys! I'm really self-conscious about my own writing and I would love some feedback, it keeps me writing at a faster pace!)


	4. Metamorphosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannes recruits Eren and Mikasa on the hunt for a titan, but the titan in question is a normal suburban who hasn't transformed yet, and Eren takes issue with killing him. The rift between Eren and Mikasa continues to be an issue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took me SO LONG, gomen. I'm really bad at keeping up writing on a daily basis, plus FINALS ARE TERRIBLE THINGS. 
> 
> I can't guarantee that this will come out every week, but I PROMISE I will keep working on it.
> 
> I'm also going to start posting mini-chapters and short prequels, at some point.

             Mikasa and Eren book a motel near where Hannes said the titan was, and then they start looking. They find the poor bastard when they spy him pigging out on raw meat as they sit with binoculars in the impala. When they get back to the motel room, a blonde middle-aged man is waiting for them, a beer in his hand.

            “Hannes!” Eren says with a smile on his face.

            Mikasa rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “See, Eren? Told you we should have hidden the booze.”

            “Smartass,” says Hannes jovially as he walks towards her, “Get over here.” They hug tightly, and Mikasa is happy to find that he still smells the same, like beer and gunpowder and leather. Like Grisha did.  “It’s good to see you, ‘Kasa." 

            “You too,” Mikasa replies earnestly.

            Hannes and Eren hug, as well. “Man, you got tall, kid. How long has it been?”

            Eren shrugs, “Ah, gotta be 10 years.” 

            “You still planning on making that band?”           

            Eren’s ears turn slightly pink. “Nah,” he scoffs.

            “Yep, sure is!” Mikasa chimes, as Eren glares at her.

            “It’s a shame Armin couldn’t come along too. I know why, but I miss the kid. He still a… whatsit called… mathlete?”

            “Yep,” Mikasa and Eren say in unison, smirking.

            (All the way in Sina Falls, Armin pauses from his book and sips his Diet Coke loudly. He feels kind of pissed, all of a sudden).

            “Been too long, kids. I mean, look at you both. Eren, you’re a grown man, now. Mikasa, you’re a beauty. Grisha would be damn proud of you. Sticking together like this.”

            “Yeah,” Mikasa says sweetly, giving Eren the evil eye, “Yeah, we’re real close Nothing more important than family.” Eren’s smile slides off his face.

            Hannes doesn’t notice, as he’s walking toward the motel’s table. Mikasa follows him, ignoring Eren. “Sorry I’m late for the dance,” Hannes says jovially as they sit down, “And thanks for helping out an old man. So, did you track down our guy Jack?”     

  
     

            “Yep, we found him at his home,” says Mikasa. 

            “Good,” Hannes says, nodding grimly, “So you guys know what we’re up against here? Titans start off as normal folk ‘til they start craving human flesh, and-“

            “And once they take a bite they transform, getting ugly, real fast,” Mikasa finishes for him. “Hannes, don’t insult me.”

            Hannes chuckles, “Alrighty then, I give. You always were a natural talent.”

            “That’s what they tell me,” Mikasa says with a faint smile. “So we cut the back of the neck.”

            “That’s the only way I found to kill these bastards.”

            “Two strikes horizontally while somehow managing to avoid the claws.”

            “Yep. No one ever said the job was easy,” sighs Hannes as he takes out what look to be large box-cutters. 

            Mikasa raises an eyebrow, “In a bit of a rush, are we?”

            “No time to waste. When this guy shifts, we won’t be finding bodies, just remains.”

            “Um…” Eren says hesitantly, “What if he doesn’t shift? Aren’t there stories about people who have the titan gene, or whatever, and they start to turn but they never take the final step?”

            “Really?” Mikasa says incredulously.

            “Yeah! If they never eat human flesh, they don’t fully transform. If they can just eat, like, a ton of raw meat, and not-“ 

            “Go snacking on humans,” Mikasa finishes for him. 

            “Right.” 

            Hannes chuckles, “That’s a nice thought, Eren. But those are just fairy tales.” He takes another gulp of beer before continuing, “Fact is, every Titan I ever saw or heard of took that bite.”

            “Ok, well, that doesn’t mean this guy Jack will!” Eren says loudly, standing up from the motel table. Mikasa stands with him, watching him suspiciously. There’s something weird about his impassioned defense of Jack. 

            “So what do we do?” Hannes asks dryly, “Sit and hope we don’t get a body count?”

            “No, we talk to him,” Eren replies, banging the table for emphasis. “We explain what’s happening. That way he can fight it.” 

            “Fight it?” says Hannes with another chuckle, “Are you kidding me? You ever been really hungry?” Mikasa turns her head towards Hannes as he continues, “I mean, haven’t-eaten-in-days hungry?”

            “You know we have,” Mikasa replies coolly.

            There’s an awkward pause, as the elephant in the room, the fact that Grisha left Mikasa, Armin, and Eren in motels for days without food, looms over them all. Hannes backtracks, “Right, of course, I’m sorry, of course you two have. So, somebody slaps a big, juicy steak in front of you, and you walk away?”

            Mikasa thinks for a second, and then shakes her head. 

            “That’s what we are to him now, meat on legs,” Hannes says. “I’m sorry. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but it’s instinct. You think he can stop himself just ‘cause he’s nice?” 

             “I don’t know!” Eren shouts suddenly, advancing on Hannes, “But we’re not gonna just kill him unless he does something to get killed for! You’re not doing your job, you’re just drinking and killing whatever moves without even _caring_ whether you hit the right monster or not, you-”         

            “ _Eren_ ,” Mikasa scolds. Instantly Eren stops and looks at her. “Calm down.” He makes a move to protest, but he sighs, shakes his head, and leaves the room, muttering, “ _Fuck this,”_ under his breath. Well, she thinks, Armin’s the best at it, but it’s a comfort to know that she can still somewhat calm him down. She winces as Eren slams the door on his way out of the motel room.

            “What’s with your brother?” Hannes asks.

            Mikasa sighs. “Don’t get me started.”

            The next day, Mikasa and Eren head out in the Impala for Jack’s house.

            “All right,” Mikasa says as she drives, “So we’re going to go have a little chat with this guy.” Eren is silent in the passenger seat, staring at the road. She sighs and continues, “And I’m fine with it. But… I just want to make sure that you’re ready to burn him if need be.” Eren still says nothing. “Eren, the odds are that we’re going to have to slice this guy.”           

            “ _This guy_ has a name, and a wife,” mutters Eren.

            _Oh, Jesus._ “Yeah, a wife that we’re going to have to make a widow, okay? You heard Hannes. He’s going to turn.”

            “Maybe he won’t, Mikasa!” snaps Eren. “Maybe he can fight it off!" 

            “Yeah, but realistically? He probably can’t,” Mikasa says gently. 

            Eren shakes his head angrily. “Well, we’ll just have to see, I guess.”

            Mikasa studies him for a moment. His mannerisms are classic angry Eren, but his words are not. “Why are you arguing for this man, Eren?” she asks.

            “What do you mean? Why shouldn’t I?”

            “It’s not like _Eren Jaeger_ to argue in defense of a monster, _especially_ a titan,” Mikasa says. “Usually I have to stop you from killing everything we see on hunts!”

            “Well... well this is different,” sputters Eren, “He’s been perfectly fine all of his life, and-”

            “It’s because of the demon blood, isn’t it?” asks Mikasa shrewdly. 

            “What?”

            “You know, he’s a nice man, but he has something evil inside. Something in his blood. I’m sure you can relate.” Mikasa turns to see Eren’s reaction, but he’s simply staring straight ahead, with a furious look on his face.

            “Stop the car,” he says suddenly. His chest is heaving angrily.

            “What?”

            “Stop the car,” repeats Eren through gritted teeth, “Or I will.”

            Mikasa pulls over, and Eren gets out before she comes to a complete stop. She gets out as well, just in time to hear him slam the door quite hard. “You want to know why I was lying to you, Mikasa?” he demands. “Because of crap like this.”

            “Like what?” Mikasa loudly replies, following him to the front of the car.

            “The way you talk to me. The way you look at me like I’m a freak!”

            “I do not!” she protests. 

            “Fine. Even worse, like I’m an idiot!” Suddenly he’s close, not more than a foot from Mikasa. “Like I don’t know the difference between right and wrong!” Realising how loud he’s gotten, Eren backs up, turning his back to Mikasa and walking a few steps. He turns around to see Mikasa giving him a strange look. “What?” 

            “Do you know the difference, Eren?”  Mikasa asks angrily. Eren throws his hands in the hair and scoffs, but Mikasa continues, “You’ve been doing pretty dark stuff lately.”

            Eren glares at her. “You have _no_ idea what I’m going through. None.”

            “Then by all means, enlighten me!” shrieks Mikasa. 

            “I’ve got _demon blood_ in me, Mikasa!” roars Eren, “This disease pumping through my veins, and I can’t ever rip it out or kill it! I’m a whole new level of freak! And I’m just trying to take this- this curse… and use it to kill as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can. To do something good. Because I haveto.” As he finishes the speech, Eren’s breathing heavily. He sits on the highway, and there’s a silence. 

            Finally, Mikasa calmly suggests, “Let’s just go talk to the guy.” 

            Eren glowers up at her, and she amends her statement, “I mean Jack. Let’s just go talk to Jack. Okay?”

            Eren looks down at the concrete, and nods. “Okay,” he says quietly, getting up and walking to the impala.

            They find Jack watering plants in his garden, and the guy looks completely spaced out. When Eren says, “Jack Montgomery?” he doesn’t really react, just slowly turns and looks at Eren and Mikasa.

            “I’m Eren Jaeger. This is my sister, Mikasa. We need to talk.”

            Jack looks at the both of them, confused. “About…?”

            “About you,” Eren says gently, “About how you’re changing.”

            “Excuse me?”

            “You’re probably feeling your bones move under your skin,” Mikasa says coolly. “And your appetite’s growing too, right?”

            “Who the hell are you?” Jack sputters, backing up a step.

            “We’re people who know about this kind of thing.”

            Eren cuts in, “We’re people who can help. Please, just hear us out.”

 

* * *

           

             Jack is staring at the two of them blankly. “So you’re saying I’m a- a what?”

            “A titan,” Mikasa says. He still looks bewildered, so she continues, “I realise it sounds made-up, but believe me, it’s not.”

            Jack stares at his hands, which are balled in tight fists in his lap. Mikasa can’t help but feel a stab of sympathy for the guy. “Alright,” he says finally, “I’ve noticed certain things. I mean, some strange things. But I just, I-I don’t know. I’m sick or something.” 

            “Your father was one of these things,” Eren blurts. Jack looks at him, surprised. “Your real father,” Eren elaborates, “He passed it down to you.” 

            For a moment it looks as though Jack is buying it, but he shakes his head suddenly. “No. Are-are you guys listening to yourselves? You s-sound like you’re-“

            “Skip the whole “you guys sound crazy” shtick,” Mikasa interrupts impatiently. “You’re hungry, Jack. You’re only gonna get hungrier.”

            “Hungrier… for what?” asks Jack.

            “People,” Eren says bluntly. “You’ll want to eat people. It may have crossed your mind already.”

            Jack blanches, and then frowns. “No,” he says determinedly.

            “It doesn’t have to be like this, Jack,” Eren explains earnestly, trying to meet Jack’s eyes, “You can fight it. You can _fight_.”

            “No,” Jack repeats, staring at the ground.

            “Others have,” Eren lies through his teeth.

            Mikasa gives him a look when she hears the lie, but she simply says, “We’re not gonna lie to you, though. It’s not easy. You’re gonna feel like a shark swimming around in blood. But you have to do it. You have to say no… or-“

            “Or what?” Jack asks, looking up at them. 

            Eren sighs. “You feed once, and it’s all over,” he admits reluctantly, “And then, you’ll be a titan. Titans are vicious, brainless, truly awful. We’ll have to stop you.” 

            Jack’s eyes widen even more. “Stop me? My dad, um, my real dad… did uh… did somebody _stop_ him?”

            “Yes,” says Eren.

            Jack looks down again for a moment, then lifts his head and glares at them. His gaze is firm, and Mikasa knows they’ve failed even before he says, “Get off my property right now. I see you guys again, I’m calling the cops.”

            “Jack!” Eren protests, “Your wife, everybody you know, they’re in _danger_! Don't be so stupid.”

            “Now!” yells Jack. Next door, a man who was previously trimming a bush looks over at the three of them. Eren sighs, and he and Mikasa walk back to the impala, closely watched by Jack.

            Once they get to the motel, Eren calls Hannes to tell him that Jack’s not willing to cooperate yet, but he thinks they can get him to acquiesce. But the call goes straight to voicemail.

            “He turned his phone off,” Eren tells Mikasa.

            She frowns and bites her lip, “Why would… there’s only one reason he would turn off his phone…”

             “If he were hunting!” Eren gasps. Quickly they get right back in the Impala and head straight for Jack’s house, Mikasa driving ten miles over the speed limit.

            As she pulls up to the curb, she sees Hannes’ car parked on the opposite side of the road. “Guess we know where Hannes is,” she says grimly, pointing it out to Eren. 

            “That stupid son of a _bitch_!” Eren hisses. He knows exactly what Hannes is doing, and the fact that he completely ignored Eren’s argument upsets him to no end. He heads for the front door, closely followed by Mikasa, both of them carrying the blades given to them by Hannes. Luckily the door is propped open, so there’s no need to pick the lock or break the door down. Rushing inside, they’re greeted with a gory sight. A woman who could only be Jack’s wife, Michelle, is bound to a chair and sobbing uncontrollably. Jack is crouched over whom Eren with a nasty shock realises is Hannes. He sees blood. A lot of blood.

            “Hey!” Eren yells. Jack stiffens, and stands up. As he turns to face them, Eren realises he’s begun to change, and he can’t suppress a shudder of disgust and hatred. He’s seen plenty of titans, but they’re always different, with new horrific malformed features every time. Jack has now got eyes as big as ritz crackers, a distended belly, and shrunken legs. His mouth is also covered in blood, and there’s skin stuck in his teeth. Hannes’ blood and teeth. Seeing her husband like this, Michelle screams in fright. Jack whips his head towards her.

            “Eren,” Mikasa mutters, “I’ll get her out. See if Hannes is…”

            “Yeah, okay,” Eren mutters. The two siblings split, and Eren rushes to Hannes’ side.           

            Hannes is hurt, his neck bleeding copiously, but he’s still alive. “Eren…” he mumbles.

            “It’s ok, I’m getting you out of here,” says Eren. He rips off a piece of his shirt and gives it to Hannes to use as a compress. “Can you stand?”

            “Yeah. I can still-“ 

            “There is _no way_ you are helping us out here,” Eren snaps.

            “Eren!” Mikasa calls. He turns around to see her standing in front of a histrionic Michelle, brandishing her blades to ward off an advancing Jack.

            “Hannes, can you get his wife out of here?” asks Eren urgently. Hannes nods, and Eren pulls him to his feet. Making a mad dash, Hannes grabs Michelle’s arm and runs her out of the house, Jack too preoccupied with Mikasa to stop them.

            But before Eren can help, Jack manages to kick Mikasa in the legs, and she falls, hitting her head on the table and passing out. Moving quickly, he grabs the chair Michelle was tied to and chucks it at Eren. Before Eren can dodge it, he feels it hit his head, and he sinks into blackness too.  

            When he comes to, he’s in what looks to be the hall closet he saw before. Before… when _Mikasa was knocked out_. He darts up, scrabbling for the doorknob, but the door is locked. “Mikasa?” he shouts worriedly.

            “Mmm… Mikasa…. can’t come to… the phone… right now.” That’s a titan’s slurred speech. That’s Jack. If he’s up, then Mikasa… Mikasa could be….

            Eren beats his fist furiously against the door. “Jack! If you hurt her, I swear to God!”

            “Calm down!” he hears Jack yell. “Your sister… is alive.”

            Eren stops beating on the door, and presses his forehead against it, panting. Thank God. Thank _God._

            “But,” Huge inhale. “But not if you don’t,” Inhale. “calm down.”

            Eren takes a deep breath himself. “Alright. Okay. Jack, listen. Open the door. We can figure this out, ok?”

            All he gets in return is a sickly gasping sort of laughter.

            “Jack,” Eren says, “Please.”

            There’s a pause.

            “I don’t think so,” Jack grunts, and Eren’s heart drops. “After… what you did?”

            Eren frowns. “What? What are you talking about?”

            “You sent your friend… he… tried to hurt her.” 

            “What?” Eren says again. “Why?” Realising this is a good opportunity for escape, he searches his pockets for a lockpick, cursing when he doesn’t find one. 

             “He… didn’t say…” Jack says after a pause.

            Eren looks around the closet and pumps a fist when he sees a metal hanger. Grabbing it, he starts to rework the hanger into a lockpick. “Listen to me,” he says through gritted teeth as he works, “You gotta believe me. My sister and I, we would have never hurt her, okay?”

            There’s another pause, and a chill runs down Eren’s spine when he hears Jack moan, “Oh, God. So… _hungry_.” 

            “Jack, don’t do this,” Eren begs, while picking the lock. 

            “You two… your friend. You made me into this!” 

            “No one’s making you kill us!” Eren shouts angrily. The lock won’t pick, and he resists the urge to scream. Instead, he leans against the door again, closing his eyes. “Listen to me,” he says in a softer voice. “You got this urge inside you. To tear and rip. I know. Believe me, I know.” Opening his eyes again, he gets back to picking the lock. “But that doesn’t mean you have to give in. You don’t _have_ to be a monster.”

            All he gets in response is that same awful laughter. “Have you… seen me lately?” 

            “It doesn’t matter what you are!” Eren says firmly. If Jack can fight this, then he can… well. It would be a real morale booster. “It only matters what you do. It’s your choice.” The lock clicks, and he slams the door open, only to see Jack looming over Mikasa, with a hand on her shoulder. “Jack!” he yells furiously.

            Jack turns to look at him, and they look at each other for a minute. Then suddenly, Jack lunges, and Eren dodges his attack by executing a tuck-and-roll. Spotting the blades, he grabs them and manages to slice perfectly into Jack’s neck. He steps back and watches as Jack crumbles and dissipates into the air, like any other dead titan. Like any other monster. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Mikasa sit up and look at him.

            Looking at the monster standing over the monster. 

            They walk outside in silence, looking for Hannes. Eren’s numb to the world until he hears Mikasa yell in shock. Snapping out of it, he sees Hannes standing over Michelle, holding a blade. Upon closer inspection, Eren sees that the woman has been stabbed in the heart.

            “What the _fuck_?” roars Eren angrily, as he and Mikasa advance towards Hannes. 

            Hannes turns to them, looking sad. “She was pregnant,” he says.

            Mikasa sucks in a breath. “Sucks,” she says ruefully. 

            Eren doesn’t speak. He looks as if he’s about to slap Hannes, but he seems to pull himself inward, until he simply nods hollowly.

 

* * *

 

            The drive back home is a sullen one, with Mikasa at the wheel. She glances over at Eren, who’s staring dejectedly out the window. He hasn’t spoken since he killed Jack. “You did the right thing, you know,” she says softly. “That man was a monster, there was no way of changing that.” He doesn’t respond. She sighs. “Eren, I want to tell you I’m sorry. I’ve been kind of hard on you lately.”

            Eren finally turns away from the window, towards her, and Mikasa is taken aback by how _broken_ he looks. “Don’t worry about it, Mikasa,” he says hoarsely.

            She still feels like she needs to explain herself. “It’s just that your, uh, your psychic thing… it scares me-“

            “Look,” Eren interrupts her flatly, “If it’s all the same… I’d really rather not talk about it. There’s nothing more to say. I can’t keep explaining myself to you. I can’t make you understand. Because this thing, this blood, it’s not in you. It’s in me. It’s just something I gotta deal with.”

            “Not alone,” insists Mikasa. He’s not getting away from her that easily. He needs her, and she him. “I’ll help you." 

            Eren sighs at that, and stares out the window again. There’s a silence. “Anyway,” Eren says, “It doesn’t matter. These powers… It’s playing with fire. I’m done with them.” Hardly believing her ears, Mikasa looks at him incredulously. “I’m done with everything.”

            “Really?” Mikasa asks. Eren doesn’t respond. “Well… that’s a relief. Thank you, Eren.”

            “Don’t thank me,” he snaps. “I’m not doing it for _you_. Or for Leviel. Or for the rest of the angels or for anybody. This is _my_ choice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, art credit to Gwen (armlnarlert.tumblr.com and thiscatdraws.tumblr.com)
> 
> You can find me at erenjaegrrr.tumblr.com
> 
> Thank you for sticking through this chapter! It's bad, I know, but the next one is gonna be a good time, hehehe.


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